when you are with me
by Ellen1804
Summary: Where Cinderella is a warrior, the Bid Bad Wolf is king, and the Mirror in Snow White is the beautiful princess. An alternate universe with a little bit of all the fairy tales and stories we loved as children mixed together with a little action and a butler named Cura.
1. first fairy tale: prince charming

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a tiny kingdom obscured by shadows. A small, ever-changing fight against the forest, stark against the evil that surrounded them, that land was called Gemma.

In Gemma, there was two halves of one people; the North and the South. The North Gemma and the South Gemma had never gotten along with one another for a very, very long time.

But one day the old queen fell and a new king rose, and this former prince called for a unification.

One by marriage.

* * *

Ash picked up her stun gun and shot it straight full of magic energy. Once the bar powered up enough that it began to heat up in her hands, she pulled it out of the socket recklessly. A faint spark lit up in the air and fizzled out.

She slid the gun into a strap on her thigh.

The recent coronation of the new king of the North Gemma had shook the entire land. The old queen had been in reign for such a long time... One would almost assume she would live and rule for the rest of eternity.

Ash picked up a handful of darts and slid them expertly into a sleeve. Then she picked up her favorite weapon, her long silver spear that was edged with blue diamond dust.

The door exploded as something heavy crashed into it.

Ash swung the spear around and pressed it up against the intruder's neck. But as the dust settled, Ash immediately regretted doing so.

Mira winced.

"Mira! Oh, for the love of-" Ash pulled back her sword. "Don't do that! What happened- My door!"

The princess of South Gemma half-smiled at Ash. At tiny cut appeared at her throat. "I'm sorry, I was distributing flowers and the cart kinda bumped into your door."

Ash's door hung off it's hinges and died on Ash's welcoming mat.

"... Kinda bumped into, eh?" Ash whispered.

"Yo, Sergeant Ash! You okay? It looks like your door quit on you!" A man yelled from the doorway.

Ash pointed her spear at him, and he raised both his hands up. "Get in here, Kit," Ash said.

He walked in casually and grinned at Ash. With a flick of his wrist he tossed her a bunch of flowers that spread themselves over her bed. "Good afternoon, partner. There's been another attack of Shadows at the west bridge, but the men have got it down. The ladies have also trashed the shadows that flew down over near the seaport."

Ash felt her heart skip a beat when Kit grinned at her with his stupid brown puppy eyes and stupid brown hair. "I know, I just came back from the west bridge, just charging up my gun."

Mira handed Ash a packet of cookies. "There's been a lot of injured soldiers, so I'm just going around giving out get-well packets." Mira smiled at Kit, tossing him a lollipop. Then she glanced at Ash's uncomfortable expression and giggled. "At least now I can finally get you some better design in your dusty old sergeant room! I think a mahogany wood layer over the edges, and some Kingwood base..."

The red-haired princess pondered on how to improve her friend's living quarters as she held up the edges of her pink dress, stepped over a packet of the maps of recent shadow attacks, and went out the door, leaving a faint scent of lilies.

"Isn't she beautiful," Kit commented. Ash couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement.

"Yes, yes she is," Ash said. She collected the bunch of daises that had scattered around her bed.

Kit looked over. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Throwing these out."

"But they're from me! Your best-est best friend in the whole wide world! You have to keep them and treasure them forever-" Ash pushed Kit out of the room and pulled a curtain over the doorway. "Go tell the princess you love her," she said with a straight face. Even through the curtain she could see his face flush.

She waited until he walked away to chase after the green-eyed darling that was the red-haired apple of everyone's eyes. Then she picked up the flowers and tucked them tenderly and carefully into a beloved scrapbook and pressed down hard.

Her heart hurt.

* * *

Mira had heard the news.

She was going to get married.

The nobles were laughing at her again and the peasants were furious.

The redhead bastard princess born of a love affair between a king who later would die of shame and a prostitute who passed away during childbirth. Raised by commoners and the kitchen servants, the common loved her and the nobles detested her shameful bloodline.

Oh, who gives a single crack at what the nobles said!

A prince was going to rescue her and she would live a happily ever after! That's what the North King would do!

The old queen of the North was dead. Long live the New King, who said that due to the increasing amount of shadows, wanted to unify the kingdom to fight the otherworldly beings that scrambled out of the dark forest that completely surrounded Gemma since the beginning of time.

By marrying Mira.

Kita swung the door open and waved at Mira. She grinned at him, banishing away her broken expression. She should be happy to marry the North King. This would finally unite Gemma. "Kit! What are you doing here?"

"Ash told me to express my love for you," he said. "Here!" He expertly took out a gun and shot a packet of powder to her. Mira caught it, but fumbled once it was in her hands and then bag slipped open, covering her with blue paints powders.

Kit chortled, and Mira glared at him for a second, and then dropped her act and laughed. She tossed a handful at him.

Kit stepped backward to avoid it and stepped on the toes of... Sergeant Ash. Blue dust fluttered over Ash's black high-heel boots and she glanced down at the now-stained toes. Mira looked over Kit's shoulder and laughed. "Ash! Come play with us!"

"Mira, The new North King is here," Ash said carefully. Mira felt something lodge up in the back of the throat, and all her worries came back. "Oh."

Ash glanced at Kit, and said softly, "Out, now."

He left. There was no disobeying Ash when she used that voice.

* * *

Mira brushed the powder off her pink dress and stood up. She walked to her dresser and went behind a folding screen. She pulled off the tainted dress and searched for a new one.

Ash awkwardly stood at the door and looked around and fancily decorated and brightly-colored bedroom, completely different from her dusty, dark, and forbidding sergeants quarters.

"Do you wanna talk?" Ash said offhandedly as she brushed blue paint powder off her boots.

Mira grinned as she pulled on a blue corset. "Oh, Ella, you just never understand social conduct, now, do you?"

"What's wrong with asking if you would like to converse?" Ella Cinder muttered. "And don't call me Ella, call me Ash."

"Ella, Ella, Ella~!" Mira sang. "It's okay, I knew I'd have to marry some guy I don't know anything about anyways. I bet I'd hate him, and he'd cheat on me, whatever~! But, you, you have freedom to like anyone you can!"

Mira pulled on some fancy lace coverings over her corset. They sort of match. Yeah, that's good. "Hey, how's it going with Kit? Do anything nice~?"

Ash grinned crookedly. _If only you knew Kit is head over heels with you_. "I said we're only just friends."

"Oh, nonsense." Mira said as she finished off with a white shawl over a big blue dress. She walked out from behind the screen. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful," Ash said. "You would look beautiful in a barrel, Mira, so why ask when you're in a lovely dress?"

Mira grinned. She tossed Ash a pair of blue slippers. "Help me put those on, will you? I can't really reach over this huge, puffy thing they call a dress."

Ash reached down and tied the laces swiftly. "You had your hair done before, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mira retorted. "All the fancy fuss was done a long time ago. The servants are all downstairs. Fighting for a chance to see the royal dark King of the North. What was his name again, Fox or something? Oh, how scary~!"

Ash tied the other shoe on. Mira looked down at her, in her white-blue steel plated armor that covered every inch of her skin up to her neck. Her black gloves and black boots finished off any other skin that might have been revealed. "You know, you should really wear a pretty dress now and then. I bet you'd look stunning."

Ash smiled up at Mira. "Not today, miss, I have to protect you. Who knows what might come out of the forests today. If they do, we have to get every men out there as fast as possible and make sure your marriage doesn't start off at the wrong foot."

Mira set both her feet down and walked to the door. "One day, I swear to God, Ash, I will get you into a dress and push you to Kit. Name your babe after me, okay, Ash?"

Ash blushed. Mira chuckled.

"I knew it! There's something going on! There is, there is!" Mira laughed. Ash waved her hands. "No, no, it's-"

Mira turned serious. Her bright green eyes stared at Ash intensely.

"You two are my closest friends. What I want most in this world, since my chances of going out there and finding and choosing the one I love is nil, is for you two at least to be happy together."

* * *

Kit walked down to the courtyard. The North King was there. Hooray, long live the new reign. Those nobles. They made him sick. Why should this unknown man from a different land marry Mira, who didn't even know his name?!

Kit prepared his sniper gun. While Ash was top on close-range combat with a pear, Kit was the long-ranged killer. He would find the heart of any lingering shadow and take it out from where he stood to the top of the tallest tower in the castle.

He was standing on the tallest tower in the castle.

Okay, bad wording.

Kit glanced down at the courtyard. It was filling up. The nobles and their fancy trains, Ash with her ranks, and Mira. Her red hair can be seen from all the way up here. Red hair from her mother, green eyes from her father. If only the king had a child before Mira, then Mira would have been a regular girl. Then maybe Kit would have been able to-

The trumpets began to play.

Kit readied his gun and watched the horizon. Ash was relying on him to sound the alarm at the first notice. There was no time to wallow in self-pity about his unnoticed love.

Mira opened the giant doors to the North King's train.

"I welcome you, North King! I accept your marriage proposal!" Mira declared as her dreams of a prince died.

And just as suddenly, the dreams of a prince mended themselves.

The King stepped down from his horse, his long blue hair sliding over his shoulders. He stepped towards Mira, and she stumbled back for a mere second, and then regained herself.

He was tall. That was the first thing she liked.

And that he was muscular, and he had a sword hanging from his hips. He looked at her once with his chilly light blue eyes, with his eyelashes like snowflakes and she was caught.

She blushed, took his hand, and for the first time, truly believed in the magic of love at first sight.

* * *

Ash didn't like it.

The ceremony was over, but there was a bad scent in the air. She took one last look around the empty courtyard, nodded to the guards, and went inside. The servants were adjusting the North King to his new home. She ran up the stairs and into Mira's bedroom. But before she ran in, she pressed her ear up to it and listened. Kit was inside too.

Her heart throbbed.

Ash opened the door and walked in. Mira sat on her bed, her feet soaking in a tiny tub of water. Kit sat next to her, his face pain-filled, but his mouth curved in a forced smile.

Mira saw Ash and grinned. "Ash~! His name is Wolf!"

Ash smiled down at her naive little princess. "Yes, it is."

Kit grimaced. Ash ignored him and walked over to Mira. "So? It wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, right?"

Mira laughed. "Oh, I didn't think it would be that bad..."

Kit laughed bitterly in return. "Oh, please, you thought the guy was going to be fifty based on how old his mother was!"

"The old queen was his _step_-mother, who died a few weeks ago at 68," Ash said as she pinched Kit's arm and he shut his mouth to close off his sound of pain. "I saw him as he entered through the main doors. He was handsome, wasn't he?"

Mira blushed. "Oh, he was! And his voice was like chunks of caramel falling into cookie batter! He said that he thought I was an angel from the way my blue dress looked like a sky when I opened the door!"

Kit rolled his eyes. "Your white lace scarf would be your wings, then?"

Ash laughed, and as Mira sighed and fell more into love, and as Kit grumbled in his jealousy, Ash found solace in the fact she may catch Kit's heart if this marriage worked out and Mira was taken.

And then she saw something from outside the window that made her heart freeze.

* * *

Wolf tossed his packet of papers down on his new table. He stroked it. Nice wood.

He looked around at the darkly warm office, and at the giant bed that lay to the side. Clearly they expected him to work and sleep at the same place. This arrangement was fine. Wolf had a feeling that he's start hating this place with a passion soon once the paperwork started to come in.

He tossed off the cape and the scarf and the annoying damn jacket that his butler back in the North Castle had forced him into. Damn that Cura, pushing him to marry the South Queen, and then sending out the news without notifying Wolf.

It was a good arrangement, though. Unifying Gemma, marrying the cute red button that was the South Queen, the innocent Mira who was beloved by all. You had to wonder if she even knew what came after the marriage. Would their honeymoon be a white-laced tea party? By the looks of it...

He sat down in the chair. You would think a man who had just lost his only mother-like firgue would be more sad, but he wasn't. She had always been a distant figure. She was a mediocre ruler. Not loved, not hated. Not much at all to be written down in history.

Outside, an alarm began to ring. Wolf tilted his head and stood up. That was the shadow alarm.

He walked to the window and looked outside.

And a shadow looked right back at him.

"Whoa!" Wolf exclaimed and stumbled backward, reaching for the sword he had tossed down on the bed. How did it get up to his window so fast! Goddamn, the thing was _huge_!

"Watch out!" He heard, and out of reflex he rolled to the other side of his bed and to the door.

His window broke into a shards and the cold evening wind of August blew in. Wolf immediately ran around, fighting his desire to cowardly run out the door, and went back to fight the shadow, which was inching its way into his room. He raised his sword.

"I SAID MOVE!"

And in that moment it was as if time froze.

And a woman completely dressed in white armor edged in blue swung in from nowhere and drove a silver spear right through the shadow's heart, her long black hair tied into a long ponytail which fluttered behind her neck. Her bangs were long, and they accented her sharp eyes.

Her red eyes that were glittering with silver.

She was beautiful.

Wolf felt his heart skip a beat.

The shadow exploded, and time sped up, and the force of the explosion forced Wolf backwards and with a thump, he hit his head on the wooden frame of his bed. As he rubbed his head, his vision became fuzzy.

The woman glanced down at him once, and then lifted her foot back onto the windowsill and activated her spear's fast travel mode, and it expanded out wings. As she prepared to jump from his window, he lifted a hand.

"W-wait a minute... Stay! Don't-"

She glared down at him, irked. Wolf could tell she wanted to run to the battle. He sat up. "What's your name?!"

Outside, shouts of distress and electric explosions of the stun guns were heard. She looked out the window, and then at her new king. She had reached her decision. She put her other foot on the window.

"My men are dying. I couldn't care lass about whatever the fuck you want."

And the savior jumped out and her spear's wings carried her into the middle of the battle, and more stun gun explosions were heard.


	2. second fairy tale: briar rose

Kit walked into Mira's room without knocking. If he caught her halfway undressed, he considered that a bonus. He dropped off some more paint powders that Mira loved to use. The finest in the kingdom. He bought extra brown this time. The exact color of his hair, to be specific.

She still hasn't painted him yet and that has to change.

She wasn't there.

He glanced on Mira's table, which were laden with sweets and gifts and flowers. He opened a chocolate box and peered inside. Then he opened another and looked into it as well. Apparently, each one had beautiful, expensive chocolates as well as a tiny love note inquiring about Mira's day.

Mira opened the entrance door. Kit made a puppy face. She laughed.

"All right, you can have some." She relented.

Kit grinned at her. "In exchange," he said through a chocolate-caramel bonbon, "I have some new paints for you. Fresh off the markets."

Mira grabbed them and opened some of the leather bags. She peered into the different shades and commented, "I'm actually working on someone special this time~!" Kit raised an eyebrow. "Is it me?"

Mira grinned, "I can tell you want me to paint you. Look at all this golden-brown! I'll paint you as soon as I finish this one, okay?" Kit smiled. "Who is it?"

Mira shook her finger. "Oh, no, I'm not telling you that..." She glanced through the bags and realized something. "Why isn't there any blue?" Kit felt his heart drop a little. Of course she needed blue. The North King's eyes and hair were both blue.

"The blue paint's shipment was delayed. I'll get it tomorrow." Kit said, closing the box of chocolates. He no longer felt hungry like he usually was all the time. The sweets in his mouth turned into sand.

"Oh, if the stewardess would let me go the markets that sold paint! I know they are pretty far and full of thieves, but Ash agreed to go with me... And I wouldn't have to trouble you so much!"

"No, I love getting paints for you, princess," Kit said, grinning. He twirled a lock of her hair around. "Next time I'll get blue, and a more red, if you want to be painted in with him."

Mira looked confused for a moment. "I... Do actually need more red! My, aren't you just telepathic today, Kit."

Kit smiled one last time and then left.

He had ten goddamn years to woo the princess in her childhood and he wasted it all on being her _friend_. Now she was head over heels in love with a king she didn't even know! How can people even fall in love that fast?!

* * *

Somewhere else in the kingdom, Wolf was asking himself the same question. Every time he thought of the red-eyed warrior his hand went limp and his papers got splattered with ink, and his heart decided to go dance tango with his liver and his lungs.

He picked up his quill again and sat up. No, he was not in love with _her_\- His hand shook and the quill fell down once again. He felt a tiny worm of guilt in his heart. He was engaged to Mira, the princess of royal blood! He couldn't-

Goddamn those red eyes. That long black hair. That sharp, strict face. If she curled her hair, and softened her expression, and wore something... Pink? No, that didn't suit her... Blue? No, too... Too much of something. Black was depressing, purple was too elegant and royal for her passion...

Green. Light green with white lace, what would he do to get her into that-

There was a click Mira opened the door and smiled at Wolf. "Good morning, my king."

Wolf turned around and smiled back at her. "Good morning, Mira." She blushed at her name. "I'm sorry, I meant: Good morning, my queen."

Mira shook her head. "No, it's okay! You can call me whatever you like. I always thought 'my queen' was too formal for me- I don't really _rule_ anyways. There isn't much to do but fight the shadows... And my sergeant has that completely covered."

_She's like a little rabbit_, Wolf thought. _A tame, adorable, charming little bunny_. "Alright then, Mira, call me Wolf." Mira blinked, flushed, and stuttered. As Wolf half-listened to her awkward apologies and excuses, but then she finally whispered, "Wolf."

He smiled at her. For a second, he thought she had fainted, but she got up and smiled weakly, and then left a packet of perfectly baked cookies and ran.

He got up, picked up the packet, knocked on the door because he knew she was on the other side catching her breath, and said, "These are delicious," before he even took the first bite.

* * *

Ash saw the letter first. Even before she read the second sentence she knew it was bad. She rang the alarm that called for an emergency meeting.

When everyone was seated, Ash stood up. There was a stifled gasp somewhere in the audience, but Ash didn't stop to wonder why.

"There has been a large gathering of shadows in the North, a few days after the king had left his kingdom. It is an emergency- they plead that the king goes back, or that reinforcements are sent as soon as possible." Ash declared straightforwardly. Whispers erupted, and Ash shot her glare around. The whispers died.

She then went over to each leading member of the councils that led Gemma, and collected votes. Wolf watched as the woman named Ash led the conference with expert guidance and supreme power. He looked at Mira, who sat next to him. "Who is she?" He whispered. He hoped that nobody noticed his surprised gasp at seeing her again, and leading a meeting no less!

Mira grinned. "My best female friend, sergeant Ash. I hope you two get along. She might be a little cold and strict and overprotective, but she's practically saved everyone in this room's lives three times over."

Wolf watched as Ash went around, discussed with each person individually and settled arguments. He fidgeted, and waved a serving maid over. He told her to get the letter, and once he finished reading he, He looked at Mira. "I have to go back," he said. "The situation is terrible."

He stood up. "Sergeant Ash, I have to go back. My people need a ruler at this time-"

"I kindly ask for you to sit down, your majesty," Ash said calmly. "I will collect votes, and then I will take in yours. As much as I respect you for wanting to go to your men, I'd rather not this be an emotionally made decision."

Wolf sat down. Kit snickered. Wolf looked over to him. Kit grinned down. "I'm the other best friend of Mira's. Kit, at your service. I'm a sniper."

Before Wolf could introduce himself, Kit continued. "Isn't she a sharp piece of glass, hm? Don't take it to heart. She's just as harsh on everyone. She offends the nobles a lot, but she means well."

Ash raised a hand. Everyone quieted down.

"The council of debts votes that Wolf goes, council of records votes that he stays, council of agriculture... Goes, stays, goes, stays..." Ash quickly ran through the list of representatives, and then she looked up. "So... It's decided. His majesty Wolf is going with _only three_ large troops- that way the travel will not take as long."

Wolf nodded in agreement, but Mira's expression was shocked. "That's way too little," she gasped. "But..." Ash continued. Everyone tensed up. "Kit and I will go with him." Ash finished. "Everyone is dismissed."

Mira stood up. "Wait!"

"I want to go too!"

* * *

Mira sat in the library, opening a thick old book about shadows. She had to become a better queen, for her people... For Wolf! She flipped to the very first page, which had all the common knowledge.

_Shadows are beings of mist that come out of the Umbra, the dark forest that completely surrounds Gemma. In their misty bodies, shadows have a "heart" or a dense part. This "heart" or dense soul-containing structure can be any shape, size, and can be found at any part of their body._

Mira flipped a few more pages to the combat section.

_To kill a shadow one must be very careful. If you touch the mist with bared skin, your skin will receive a deep black burn. You must find and locate the heart, and then strike it. A long-range weapon is recommended, such as a spear or a gun._

_Be warned, though, they come in various size and speeds. Some may be slow, others may be extremely fast. If you choose to be a sniper, you must be extremely keen in the eyes and fast with the trigger, as well as be able to locate the heart at a large distance._

_Complete head-to-toe armor is recommended. Bright colors will also differentiate you and the shadows on the battleground; white is recommended._

Mira closed the book. She knew that she was not good at this stuff. She was better at cheering the injured up. People have been said to heal faster if she visited them daily. She left the book open on a library table and went to the kitchen.

As she mixed cookie dough, she pondered on the uproar that occurred when Mira announced her desire to go to the North.

Ash was extremely steely, saying that it was dangerous, and that it was cold and uncomfortable and foreign. Kit added that it also had loads of different diseases that she had not been exposed to before. Wolf, however, was silent. And Mira loved him for that.

She put the sheets of cookies into the baking fireplace and set to cleaning up, but before she could do so, a bunch of giggling serving maids pushed her away and quickly wiped up the mess she had left behind.

Mira sighed. They never let her do anything by herself. She took a basket of brownies and went to give them to the injured soldiers at the front.

* * *

Kit smiled over the balcony that was connected to his quarters through a window. "Ah~ I like this plan." _If the Wolf goes to the North, fights a good fight and dies... Now, wouldn't that be a fairy tale to be proud of!_

Ash dumped a bucket of water onto Kit's head from the balcony above. "Oi, what are you thinking, you stupid motherf- oh, sergeant Ash."

Ash smirked down at Kit. "I was just watering some ugly jealousy lilies that were growing on your dirt-brown hair, sniper Kit."

"My hair is golden-brown, thank you very much!" Kit shouted up to her. "And I'm not jealous of anyone!"

"Oh, please, you've been in love with Mira since you entered this castle."

Kit blinked and ruffled his soaked hair. "It doesn't matter anymore. She's in a fantasy world with a handsome king now. What does she see in him, anyway?"

Ash glanced down at her partner. "Well, just yesterday, I saw him pat her head and call her a red rabbit."

"I've been calling her beautiful for ten years! He calls her a rabbit for two _days_! How come he gets the girl?!"

"He bought her two new beautiful dresses and said that he was thinking of what she would look the most beautiful in as he was buying them, and he was stuck between the two and so he just bought both."

"Oh, I get it now, he's _rich_." Kit muttered.

"Don't forget handsome," Ash laughed. It was fun watching someone else suffer from the same type of jealousy that she had been hiding for years. "He's got the most beautiful blue eyes."

"My eyes are golden in the sunlight! Try topping that!" Kit looked up at Ash. "And at all the praise you're heaping on him, you might be falling in love with him yourself!"

Ash smirked down at Kit. "Oh, that would just break your heart, now wouldn't it?"

Kit stuck his tongue out. "Not at all! He can have you! He'd live in an absolute terror married to the shadow-slaying Sergeant of the South!"

Ash hid the pang in her heart with a carefree smile.

Kit suddenly stood up. "I gotta go see the king."

Ash raised an eyebrow.

"I have to get some paints."

* * *

Wolf looked up from his paper as Kit entered his room and walked to his desk. "Hello...?" Wolf said. Kit abruptly leaned down and looked deeply into Wolf's eyes without saying a word.

And continued staring for a long time...

Wolf was beginning to feel uncomfortable, averting his eyes from Kit's golden-brown ones. "Good afternoon, Kit. What brings you here-"

Kit leaned in closer, putting both his hands on Wolf's face to hold it still, and Wolf leaned slightly back to avoid accidentally brushing lips. Kit suddenly stood right back up. "Light Columbia Blue! That's the color of your eyes!"

Wolf felt his eyes go flat. Kit backed away, messed up his hair and grinned. "Ahahaha~! The color of your hair is strikingly Palatinate Blue, that was easy to figure out! Your eyes, however... Well, have a good day!"

With that, Kit ran right out of the office, leaving Wolf to sit there, stunned.

Kit went back up to his balcony and waved at Ash. "Well, I've confirmed that Wolf's not homosexual~!" He sang up to her.

Ash sputtered, spitting out some of the coffee she was drinking. "How in Gemma did you figure _that_ out- wait, Kit, what did you do~?! Are you sure?"

But it was too late- Kit was gone. Gone to find some paint powders for the princess.

* * *

Ash knocked on Mira's door.

Mira opened it.

"You can go," Ash said, and was suddenly enveloped in a tight hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!" Mira shouted joyfully into Ash's shoulder-plate.

Ash sighed. "It was for the best after all. I don't want to leave you behind, you have to go to the North sometime anyways, it's better to go earlier than later, the North wants to meet its new queen, and you can rally the people up to fight against the shadows, since we aren't bringing that many troops so that we travel as fast as possible..."

"What about the wedding?" Mira asked.

"It's been postponed to next spring. That's good, right? You have the winter and spring to get to know him." Ash picked Mira up as if she weighed nothing and walked into Mira's room. She closed the door behind her and dropped Mira onto the bed.

Mira sat up on the bed and said, "Oh."

Ash raised her eyebrows. "You wanted to get married as fast as possible? Wow, princess, I didn't think you'd be so eager-"

"No, no, no!" Mira exclaimed, blushing. "I-I was just, you know..."

Ash chuckled, but then stopped abruptly. "Princess, we're leaving tomorrow. I'll help you pack."

Mira blew a raspberry into Ash's face. "Oh, please, go fight some shadows or something. I can pack by myself. I know your tricks, Ella, if I let you pack with me, I'll have nothing to wear up north but pants, boots, and a shawl!"

"Princess, it will be very cold up there. I advise you to not bring summer dresses..."

"I know, I know! Now, get out!" Mira tossed a lace hat at Ash. "If you say another word I'll order you to wear an elegant gown and attend the next ball while I hold your spear and play-fight with Kit in the dirt!"

"We weren't playing, we were practicing!"

"Oh, excuses, excuses for missing out the last winter ball... And practicing doesn't come with that much laughter, Ash! Now leave!" Mira retorted. She pushed Ash out of the room and then went to her drawer to search for the winter dresses.

Night fell

Mira pushed the last dress into her bag and tied it closed. "Done!" She sighed triumphantly. She looked around her room, where dresses were scattered all over. It had been a rough three hours, going around and comparing which dresses looked the best and yet was the most comfortable.

There was a knock on the door. Mira opened it, and looked up at the face of Wolf.

He grinned down at her. She blinked, taken aback. "Hello, my king-"

He pulled her out of the doorway and closed the door to her bedroom. He tugged her hand and started to walk down the hallways in a quick pace with her in tow.

"My king? Where are we-"

"I told you to call me Wolf, Mira." He said. He turned around, picked her up princess-style and started running. She was stunned into silence. In a few minutes they arrived at the rose garden, where he set her down.

"You have a rose garden!" Wolf exclaimed. "How beautiful! My god, why did I not see this when I came in?!"

Mira was still flushed from being carried through the hallways. "Yes, yes, we do." She said, smiling at his wonder. She didn't think someone who looked like an ice prince would be so soft on flowers. "It's one of the most prized attractions."

Wolf looked down at Mira, and then at the rose garden, his expression almost pleading.

Mira found herself wanting to giggle. "Oh, you can go in! Anytime." At soon as the words left her mouth, Wolf practically flew inside. Mira followed him into the garden.

She stood back and watched as Wolf roamed the rows of plants and carefully trimmed trees. "I saw this through my window in my office and I couldn't believe my eyes," he said as he looked around. "In the North we don't have many flowers," he explained. "There's just trees, trees, and more trees."

"How beautiful," he whispered. He turned around, his blue hair glowing. He looked at Mira. "You're like a rose, aren't you, with your red hair."

Mira blushed.

Wolf smiled. "Even more now, with your face pink."

Mira shook her head.

Wolf looked about, and then smiled ruefully. "I guess I've ruined your expectation of a cold, hard, ice prince right? Not so manly to like flowers..."

"Of course not!" Mira shouted. "I think it's wonderful you like flowers."

Wolf glanced at her and smiled.

"I see that this kingdom is lucky to have such a princess. How easily it comes to you to make people fell better about anything." Mira opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything in return. She flushed deeper instead and closed her mouth.

Wolf looked around, and then suddenly thought of Ash. He sighed. The sergeant undoubtedly would look down at him for liking such trivial blooms. He took Mira's hand and held it tight. The princess was a light rose fairy. Why was he attracted to the warrior?

"Let's go. I'm sorry for interrupting what you were doing in your room, but it says that this garden is yours, so I thought I needed your permission to enter it."

"No, it's not mine," Mira laughed. "It's only dedicated to me. The one who nurtures this garden isn't me." Wolf tilted his head. "Oh. Then who takes care of this garden, then?"

Mira chuckled. "Oh, you'd be surprised, but it's Ash."

Wolf blinked. His heart started to beat faster, and he felt his skin tingle. "Oh?" He said nonchalantly.

"Yes! Isn't that surprising? She might be cold and strict, but she has the _loveliest_ way with the roses."


	3. third fairy tale: sweets and butlers

"I ran to the market and got you this, princess~!" Kit shouted, running over. "Here! The blue paints you asked for."

Mira caught them and stuffed them into a bag she packed to carry her painting supplies. "Thank you, Kit! I didn't think you'd make it back in time."

Kit held up Ash's spear. "I just did some gliding to get there. Damn, this thing nearly killed me and nearly sliced someone else in half!"

Ash took the spear from Kit's hands and slammed it on the back of its head. "_Kit_."

Kit grinned at her. "I'm sorry, but I woke up late and Mira wanted her paints and it was just sitting _right there_!"

"Die."

"Eeeek!"

Before Ash could skewer Kit and roast him over an open fire, a trumpet signaled the departure of the carriages and the troops.

Ash dropped Kit and picked up Mira's painting kit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wolf offer to held her carry it, but she ignored him and loaded the heavy package on the back section of the carriage without a problem. Then she pulled Mira into the carriage and pushed Wolf inside as well.

The blue haired king looked around, confused. "Sergeant Ash, aren't you going to sit inside the carriage?"

Ash shook her head. She climbed onto a horse expertly. "Kit and I will flank the carriage that the majesties are in at all times." Through the other window on the other side of the carriage, Kit waved.

Ash then looked around and raised a hand to signal that it was clear. "There's three ranks of troops, the two horses Kit and I are on, and this carriage... As well as five other horses that carry other luggage. It's going to be a three-day trip, but in cutting down on rest we can make it in just two days. I hope we don't have to camp- that's only when someone takes ill or the weather turns for the worst."

Kit chuckled. "Ash always does this before travel. Makes a list of people and animals in her head, makes sure nothing is missing at every moment, always asking where anyone is. It's almost a disorder!" The carriage began to move, and the horses started to calmly trot to the North Bridge.

Ash's head went this way and that, making sure nothing was left behind, and then that there weren't any shadows. "I am not particularly worried about any thieves in this area. We don't have many. If anyone needs financial aid they could work for the castle for a time and we'd pay their debt off... It's the shadows," she muttered.

Kit pulled a flower from his pocket and handed it to Mira over Wolf's shoulder. "Here, my princess. Something I picked up."

Wolf suddenly dropped his cool gaze and grinned unabashedly. "Is that a bluebell?! How rare! Where did you find it?" He exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "Kit has a talent for going into the forests, avoid the shadows, and come out with delicate flowers that grow only in certain conditions." Ash informed him.

Mira looked at Wolf and then at the bluebell. "You're a bluebell!"

Wolf blinked. "Eh?"

Mira laughed. "I'm a rose, you're a bluebell!"

Ash chuckled.

Mira pointed at Kit. "He's the dirt," Kit winced, "That beautiful flowers grow on," Mira finished, winking at Kit. Ash smirked at Kit. "I told you your hair was dirt-brown."

"It's _golden_-brown," Kit retorted, "Besides, if we were all gardening supplies, you'd be ash!" Ash raised an eyebrow. "How original. What a wonderful play on words, Kit."

"Black ash," Kit said, "one that comes from burning flowers!" Ash pretended not to be hurt. "Oh, please. I bet your dirt is drier than my ash."

"You know, wood ash is sometimes good for helping plants grow." Kit, Mira, and Ash all looked at Wolf, who had said the last statement. He fidgeted. "Just something I realized when there was a forest fire."

Mira handed Wolf the bluebell. "Here. You can have it," she said, blushing.

Kit looked away. Ash watched as he went off to talk with other soldiers. She glanced down at where Mira and Wolf was, then let the curtain fall. "I'll give you guys some time alone," she said, smirking a little, and trotted off, ignoring Mira's tiny "Wait!"

* * *

After some time, they crossed over the North Bridge and there was no longer a beautiful river view to look at and comment on. The silence grew long and thick. Mira licked her lips and turned to Wolf.

"I... Want to get to know you more." She said. He smiled at her, indulgent. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

Mira immediately perked up. "Do you like sweets or salty food?"

Wolf laughed. He could see where she was going. "Salty," he said, just for the hell of it. She visibly drooped. He chuckled. "But sweets are fine."

She perked up. "Okay! Do you like chocolate, caramel, vanilla... Which type of topping?"

"Fruit."

"Oh." She nodded, mentally putting together a recipe. "What about a base... Cookies or brownies? Or cake?"

"Cake."

Mira paused for a moment and raised her eyebrows at him. She looked at him for a long time, and then said, "What type? Red velvet, vanilla, chocolate?"

"Vanilla." He said.

Mira tilted her head and looked at him. "You're being completely honest, right?"

"Yes, I swear!" Wolf said, wondering why she'd question him on being honest with pastry preferences.

"What kind of fruit?"

"Uh... Strawberries?"

"Gimme another type."

"And... Melons."

"Sprinkles?"

"No."

"Cream?"

"Yes."

Mira twitched. "Do you liked cream?"

Wolf grinned crookedly. "Yes, I actually do, a lot."

Mira reached down and grabbed a box that was sitting under the seat. She opened it and pulled out a plate of vanilla cake, with freshly cut strawberries and melon balls on it, with a generous plop of cream.

Wolf was taken aback. "Wow! Did you guess what I would like as you were baking-?"

Mira shook her head. She peered into the box, looking at all the different types she had made this morning. "This cake was made for someone else. She has the exact same tastes..."

Ash pulled open the curtain. "Mira, I'm coming to tell you that there's going to be a bumpy road ahead, this part hasn't been fixed in ages... They should have gotten it done a long time- is that my vanilla strawberry-melon cream cake?" Ash glanced at the cake in Mira's hands, clearly enticed. "You remembered!"

Mira laughed. "Of course. You are famous for loving honey melons and putting too much cream in your coffee."

Wolf looked away. He couldn't stare are Ash for too long without feeling something get stuck in his throat. "Give the cake to her," he whispered to Mira. "I lied. I actually allergic to melon. You have to get it out of here or else I'll get a rash and sneeze."

Mira's eyes widened and she quickly handed Ash the cake and the box of the others. "Go pass them out, okay?"

Ash nodded, already swallowing a juicy cut of melon. "Okay, princess."

As she left, with her horse on a quick trot, Wolf felt a tiny nervous laugh well up in his throat.

Melons were his favorite fruit.

* * *

Ash finished handing out the rest of the pastries and then tossed the box to Kit. "Last one is for you!" She yelled to him.

He gave her a thumbs up and pulled his nut-covered brownie from the box, folded the box up, and tossed it in a trash compartment tied to a strap on the side of his horse.

She turned her horse back around and trotted towards the carriage, nodding to the soldiers as she passed them, who were polishing off cookies. She licked cream off her fingers.

She pulled the curtain up and peered inside. Mira slept with her head on Wolf's shoulder. Ash looked at her fondly.

Wolf looked at Ash's softened face and felt something catch in his throat. Before Ash could see him, he closed his eyes.

After a few moments, Wolf heard the curtains swish closed. He waited until he heard Ash's horse trot away, and then he opened them again.

He reached up and ruffled his hair, and sighed. "God_damn_."

This was bad. This was really bad. Goddamn that woman for being so sexy! And then at the right time, she'd let her guard down and captivate everyone around her...

He looked down at the innocent face of Mira. Love came with time, right?

Wolf turned his face away and looked at the curtains. All he had to do is ignore Ash and focus on the beauty he had right here, and this feeling will go away, and maybe even transfer to Mira. It'll be all good. He can't be in love with a sergeant! Let alone a friend of his fiance! It wouldn't work out. Not in a million years...

Right?

Three Days Later...

Wolf was jostled awake when the horse kicked a rock. He sat up, steadying Mira's head with the crook of his arm. He held her carefully as the carriage rumbled on a rocky path. Once the bumps stopped, he settled her head back down on his shoulder.

He pulled the curtains back. The gray light of the time before dawn trickled into the carriage. He stared outside, his mouth open. The sky was clouded, but even through the thin light he could see the destruction.

In the Umbra a huge cloud of shadows was advancing.

Wolf felt his jaw go slack. It was enormous! By the density, it was also containing extremely large numbers- the black was so deep Wolf couldn't see through it and into the forests beyond. He poked his head out the window and waved Ash over.

Her horse tiredly walked over. Ash murmured to it, saying that rest was close. She looked at Wolf, staring into his eyes. His heart sped up, but he controlled it and composed himself.

"I-it's bad," he stuttered. "It's a hell of a lot worse than what they described in the letter!"

Ash nodded. "We passed through more than a few destroyed towns on the way here, your majesty. It's really... Roughed up."

Wolf felt Mira's head shift on his shoulder. He turned around. Mira raised her head and saw the blackness hovering over the forest. "Is that...?" She whispered. Wolf nodded, and her eyes widened. "By all of Gemma..." She said.

Kit appeared on the other window and grinned as Mira. "The castle's in sight!"

Wolf turned his gaze to where they were heading to, and saw his home that he had left just a mere week ago.

How could all this happen in one week?!

* * *

The door to the North castle sung open slowly, and the caretaker stepped out.

A strikingly handsome, bespectacled man with spiky orange-yellow hair stepped out. He pulled a silk handkerchief from his neatly dressed suit and wiped his green-rimmed glasses with it.

He put them back on, glanced at Wolf, and bowed deeply.

He waved some servants over and whispered into their ear. They led the new troops to separate barracks.

Then he turned around and surveyed the people that were left. Mira, Ash, and Kit all stared back at him. Kit looked at Ash and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Mira nudged Ash with a finger, suppressing a giggle. _Are all the men in the North Kingdom HOT?_ Her eyes twinkled at Ash's, who sighed. Behind them, servants unpacked their stuff and sent them off to their respective rooms.

The hot guy cleared his throat.

"Welcome back, my lord." He said. He distributed maps to the three foreigners. "My name is Cura, and I am his majesty's personal butler."

Wolf pinched Cura's cheeks and pulled. "Don't give me your calm hotel welcome! What in Gemma happened here?! What's this giant blob of shadows stirring up in the forest?!"

"I would hardly call that a blob, you majesty," Cura stated as clearly as he could through stretched cheeks. "A blob is a word that is commonly defined as 'a drop of thick liquid,' but these shadows are mist-like, and have one of the thinnest densities ever found in Gemma..."

Wolf let go of his cheeks. He walked past him and led everyone in. "Everyone, in my office immediately! We have to propose a counterattack."

Cura rubbed his cheeks. He looked around, and waved a few guards over to close the door.

He noticed Mira looking at him, and raised his eyebrows. "Good morning, miss. I suppose you are the lovely Queen of the south?"

Mira blushed. "Yes," she said, smiling. "I suppose my reputation precedes me."

"No, not at all," Cura said without mercy. He nodded his head to Ash. "I've never heard anything of you before, but I've heard of the notorious shadow-slaying Sergeant, and by simple process of elimination, you're the only other really important female, although counting you as 'really important' might be a little..."

Wolf pulled a depressed Mira away from Cura. "Ignore him. This guy does not have a heart, so don't take his comments to yours."

Kit grinned. "Ah, I supposed you don't like the royals, eh?" He said, hugging Cura with one arm. He leaned on Cura's shoulder. "You've probably heard of me, right?"

"I have no idea who you are. If you are a servant, the kitchen is that way- it says so clearly on your map."

Kit tilted his head and turned into stone.

Cura studied him. "On the other hand, it seems that you are wearing a soldier's armor. I'm sorry- the barracks are that way." He said, pointing.

Kit cracked.

Ash picked up Kit-statue and walked up the stairs, following Wolf to his office, completely ignoring Cura.

* * *

Cura spread a large map, marking the castle with a blue crown, then switching to red ink and scratched an 'X' red ink in all the destroyed towns. Then, with a dotted line he drew a layout of the land lost back to the forest.

He then switched to black ink and scratched out a a large black 'X' over where the huge cloud of shadows were, and then pointed to a spot that was further North of that 'X'. "This is where the cloud used to be, but since a week ago it had moved quite a bit closer, and the attacks have gotten greater in number." Cura said.

Ash nodded, and admired his swift handiwork. In a mere minute she had attained the information she needed.

Wolf studied the map. "How could we ever defeat that cloud? Its size- we wouldn't have enough men and women in all of Gemma even if they were all trained soldiers!"

Ash and Cura looked at him. "It's simple- split it up." They glanced at each other after the mirrored syllables were uttered.

Kit blinked. He glanced at Mira, who was surprised as well. Mira opened her mouth. "Hey, Cura, do you like melon?"

Cura titled his head. "I am not particularly fond of nor pleased with its taste. Why do you ask?"

Wolf averted his eyes and stared intently into the map that he was holding.

"Anyways," Ash said, "I think we should go into the forest, draw out a small number of shadows at a time, and defeat them by fives or tens at a time so we don't lose any fighters."

Kit pulled the curtains open. "How long would that take? Look at the cloud! How many do you think is in there?!"

Cura shook his head. "You think it's a lot but it isn't as much as it looks like. The shadows like to group together to make their mist look darker. I'm guessing that there's only about 200 in there..."

Kit huffed in disbelief. "You say 200 like it's a small number."

Cura looked at Wolf, then Ash and Kit. "Well, from the rumors, I'd say that 200 is nothing for sergeant Ash and her partner- what was your name again?"

Kit's eye twitched.

"I propose another idea in addition to the one I formerly proposed- that we gather snipers and shoot the cloud from afar, and try to take out as many as possible even before getting close." Ash said.

Kit nodded. "That's an idea I like."

Far away, an alarm began to ring. Ash got up and ran to the window. From over her shoulder, Wolf could see that a large chunk of the cloud was peeling itself away and advancing to the castle.

Cura opened the door to the office and shouted at a bunch of soldiers that were just about to knock.

Ash opened the window and jumped out (making Mira gasp in surprise), activating her spear's glide function just before she hit the ground.

Kit followed her and leaped out the window, but instead of going to the ground he shot a grappling hook from once of his guns and climbed to the top, where he set up three different guns and began to pick off shadows one by one.

As shocks and explosions were heard, Wolf took Mira's hand and pulled her into the hallway, away from the window. Cura closed the window with a firm _click_ and followed them out.

Wolf led Mira to a seat on the hallway, kissed her on the cheek, and then ran right out the door with a sword he pulled out of a rack hanging over the fireplace.

Mira sat there blushing warm with guilty happiness for a second, and then her blood ran cold when Cura ran past her shouting a single message to the servants.

"Sniper Kit is down! I repeat; SNIPER KIT IS DOWN! Send backup to the top left tower _immediately_!"


	4. stolen

Mira opened the door to Kit's new room at the North castle. "Hello sweetie," she whispered. She put a bunch of flowers into a vase on his nightstand.

He smiled and opened his eyes. He lifted his heavily bandaged hand and waved. "Hi," he said. "I think I feel better already after seeing your beautiful face, my princess."

She grinned. "Wow, you're completely wrapped up."

Kit smirked. "Ash's orders. God, I am stupid. The stupid shadow caught be off-guard and went up behind me. Got a bunch of burns on my back."

Mira chuckled. "Oh, I know exactly what you did wrong. Ash was really pissed off yesterday and... Well, she completely ruined you at lunch yesterday."

Kit raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What did she say?"

"That you were too focused on shooting ones that were far away down that you didn't notice the ones near you creeping up, that once the shadow burned your back you freaked out and waved your hand out to try and stop it- but it's a mist-composed entity and you ended up with a burned hand instead."

Kit winced. "Ah. That woman doesn't miss anything."

"She also says that the ointment used to cover your burns will be deducted off your pay."

"Aw~! I guess the dress I'm going to buy you will have to wait a little bit more, princess."

"Why would you buy me a dress?" Mira laughed. "If you really want to buy a girl a dress, buy Ash one!"

"Now why would I buy _her_ a dress? That's absurd."

Mira suddenly remembered something. "Oh! I actually came here for something else."

Kit sat up. "What?"

"I have to put on new bandages."

Kit blinked, and felt a flush creep up his neck. "Wha-?"

"Come on, Kit, take 'em off. I gotta tie new bandages all over your burns." Mira said, already unraveling a roll of bandages.

* * *

Ash walked along the hallways, familiarizing herself with the layout and mapping out the shortest route to Mira's room if she ever was in danger. She passed by Kit's room, convinced herself to go in, and went to Kit's room, stood outside for a moment, taking in a few deep breaths. Then, she stepped forward and opened the door.

Mira and Kit turned around as Ash's eyes roved over Kit's undressed state and Mira's half-way completed bandaging.

Ash closed the door again.

Ash walked away from the room as fast as she could. Of course Mira was bandaging Kit. They were good friends, of course. And Mira was known for shortening the healing process, and well as being able to banish depression and the other complications that came with being burned with shadows.

Jealousy burns more than any injuries that could be obtained from a shadow.

Ash tightened her grip on her spear and lowered her head. She needed to blow off some steam. If only a pack of shadows would attack now! Ash walked fast and so with her head lowered, she couldn't stop herself as she collided with Wolf.

She immediately steadied herself, and by default, stretched out her hand and held Wolf up by his waist like she always did with Mira, who, being very clumsy, fell down often.

She pulled Wolf back up to a balanced standing position expertly. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I did not see you."

Wolf nodded. "Yes, I-, me too." He said, still surprised at being handled like a girl.

Ash swung her spear behind her back respectfully and then remembered her first meeting with him. "Ah, I also have something else I want to address with you, but never really had the time alone with you."

Wolf tilted his head. "Oh, okay. Then... Feel free to... Address it."

"I apologize for the rudeness of our first meeting. I know better than to curse in front of your majesty, but I am a hothead and I must control that emotional side of me." Ash said. "I, however, do not regret my decision, and would continue to ignore your majesty (if he is in a nonthreatening situation) if my men need me elsewhere."

Wolf opened his mouth, "It's alright, sergeant. I wasn't thinking clearly either. I shouldn't have decided to place our introductions in the middle of a battle."

Ash nodded. "Now... To my punishment." She bowed down to Wolf, her spear set to the side. "If a subject curses or is rude to royalty, the punishment can be from a public hanging to a private whipping, or a simple rank lowering, or a deduction from the salary."

Wolf opened his mouth. "Uh..." His mind was still reeling from standing so close to her. Goddamn, he can't think with those red eyes staring at him so intensely... Wait, _private whipping_?

Wolf felt a flush begin to creep up his neck. "No, it's okay. I... Just have one thing I want you to do."

"Anything." Ash said without hesitation.

Wolf raced for anything that popped up into his mind. Then he remembered something. Without thinking, he sputtered it out.

"W-wear... A dress."

Ash blinked and looked up. "What?"

"Wear a dress to the next winter ball. It's going to be held here in the North castle. A-and make it green! Green with white lace, and strapless! With white buttons from the top curving in a line down to the side, decreasing in size... With a an ash-rose colored bouquet in your hair, pinned up into the side of your bun..."

Ash stared up at Wolf.

He blushed. "I-it's... Actually this is Mira's request!" He lied.

"Oh~," Ash smiled. "Ah. That's why. Alright, then, I will accomplish this task."

She smiled up at him. Wolf felt his heart go crazy. "Even when she isn't here, you're still thinking of what she wants all the time, aren't you."

_How sweet,_ Ash thought as she picked up her spear, nodded one last time to the North king, and walked towards the practice rooms to see how strong the North soldiers were.

As soon as she was out of sight, Wolf ran to his room and slammed the door closed. He dumped the box of paper he was carrying on his desk and sat down.

Every time he thought of her his heart twisted into a million knots and his hands went numb.

He groaned...

He had to control this emotion. A king cannot marry a knight. A king who was engaged cannot fall in love with a knight! That knight would be ridiculed and pushed out of society! She would be ruined.

This feeling- be it lust or love- has got to _go away_!

* * *

Ash was taking on ten different soldiers at a time (and beating them badly) when yet another alarm rang. Ash quickly ran right outside and gasped.

This time only one shadow arrived, but it towered over fifty feet tall, and the heart was no where in sight.

As shouts and more alarms rang behind her, Ash ran up to the shadow and swung her spear around, slicing it up into bits, but the mist regrouped and reformed themselves in instants- the fasted regeneration Ash had ever seen.

Behind her, she heard a familiar voice.

Kit stood up in just a pair of pants and come bandages. He held up a gun. "I see it! It's on the eye! The heart!"

As Ash watched with horror, Kit took a half-ass shot and hit the area three feet away from the heart.

"What the hell are you doing out here, Kit, you're injured!"

Wolf ran out with his large blue steel sword and swung in down, chopping off a good chunk of the shadow's foot. Around the shadows, soldiers began to encircle it and slice off pieces.

Ash growled in the back of her throat, "Kit, are you a retard..." She activate her spear's wings and jumped into the air. She swung on the air currents until she neared the heart, and then she swung her spear, located the heart, and took the shadow out with one single, precise blow.

The shadow's heart exploded in a flash of blinding white, knocking Ash out of her air current, and the rest of its mist dissolved.

Ash fell backward. "Shit!"

She reached out to grab her spear, and she managed to grab it, but the wing was torn.

She hit the ground.

And behind her, shadowy arms formed out of the bushes of the forest and dragged her in before she could fight back.

"ASH! NO! ! !"

Was the last thing she heard.

* * *

Kit sat in the meeting room, stunned, his eyes wide and open yet still somehow not seeing the table in front of him.

Wolf stood in the corner, his hand covering his eyes.

Cura sighed. "Kit, if I dare to ask, what were you doing _outsid_e?"

"I knew I was the only sniper who is able to find the heart fast enough." Kit muttered.

Mira felt her eyes act up again. Now was not the time to cry. She sniffled a little and took a deep breath like Ash always did when she felt too emotional. Oh, Ash... Mira's eyes watered.

Wolf rubbed his face and messed up his long blue hair. "Cura, we have to launch a search."

"In the forest?" Cura asked. "She might not even be..."

Kit smashed his hand into his palm. "That is my friend you are talking about!"

Cura walked towards Kit. "Think about it without all your emotions, Kit! Think like Ash would think if you were to be dragged into the forest!"

Mira chuckled softly, with a tinge of sadness. "Actually, that happened once before..." She said. "Ash threw a rage and tore up half the forest searching for him and wouldn't stop for three days until she found him and collapsed. Kit had to carry her back himself!"

Cura blinked. "Ah, so even she still has emotional overrides." He said thoughtfully.

"Don't say that like it's a weakness, you heartless butler," Kit hissed.

Cura raised both his hands. "No, I did not mean that disrespectfully. But Kit, calm down. Am I really the one you should focus your anger on right now?"

Kit visibly shrank back and wilted. "I was right there," Kit said without energy. "I was _right there_! HOW COULD I HAVE NOT DONE SOMETHING?!" He suddenly screamed, changing from depression stage to maniac stage.

Mira grabbed one of his wrists and Wolf took his shoulders. "I was also there," Wolf said, "Nothing could have been done."

Inside Wolf's heart, however, guilt swam. As he was stupidly hacking off chunks of mist, Ash was going up there and finishing it off on at the cost of a dangerous fall. How could he not have... Ran over? Caught her? Flew up there himself? If only he...

Kit shook his head. "She's not dead yet. She has this knack for getting out of tough situations, and-" Kit's bandage had fallen apart and his black burns touched the sunlight drifting through the window.

Kit winced as the black burns lit up, and Mira quickly moved him out of the sunlight. "Shit," Kit hissed and the black burns started to fry up. His face was tight with pain.

Mira pulled on his sleeve. "I forgot that they acted up in the sunlight! Here, let's get on new bandages..."

"No," Kit panted. "Wait. There's an old remedy for black burns," he whispered through his teeth. He peeled the bandages off his hand and, as Wolf and Cura, watched, he voluntarily stuck his hand out to the sunlight.

The black burns began to slowly recede, but in a few seconds Kit screamed and his knees crumpled. Wolf and Mira caught him before he hit the floor.

Cura walked closer. "Ah. I've heard of this. Healing the black burns through sunlight. That's what they did before the burn ointment was mass-produced."

The skin left on Kit's hand was red and raw. The burns, however, was gone. Kit was covered in sweat. His eyes were still fuzzy, and he was stunned from pain, but he smiled. "The burns... Are gone. That means I can search for Ash tomorrow... Right?"

He slumped and fainted. Wolf pulled him up and slung Kit's arm over his shoulder. "Let's get him into a bed. His body's shut down."

Cura nodded. "Pain shot the body to overdrive, and the body decided to shut off to heal and unscramble the nerves..."

Wolf sighed at Cura. "Please, just help me carry him out of here."

Cura picked up Kit's other arm, which was handed to him by Mira, and swung it over his shoulder. "I have to say, though... I have quite a respect for a man who would go through that just to search for a woman. I've read that the pain is like having a thousand needles jabbed into and through your skin."

Mira winced.

"... In fact, the soldiers in the past often wake up surprised that they still have their skin."

"Cura," Wolf said.

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

* * *

The next morning, Kit woke up tied to a bed, and he threw a murderous rage, but the search party already left.

Mira could hear his curses through the wooden door. She almost went in and untied him on the spot, but he showed signs of an incoming fever and the rest of his burns had not healed yet. Kit's logic was that both hands didn't have burns, he could hold a gun and pull a trigger, and therefore he should be allowed to go.

Mira pulled herself away from his bedroom and went to cheer up some injured soldiers, but then she passed by the master bedroom, and the door was open.

She looked in.

Wolf was sitting in his chair, but he wasn't doing anything. He was sitting with his head tilted to the window, his hand posed with a quill to write something, but his hand wasn't moving.

As she watched, he stood up and went to the window, staring outside at the sun, waiting for the search party to return.

Mira walked out of the bedroom. She didn't know that Ash and Wolf were that close.

There was something wrong with her heart.

Somewhere not too far away...

Ash crawled out of the pit she had dug herself last night. Her face was covered in black burns. Her arms were burned too, from where the shadows had latched onto her.

Her spear was muddy, and the wings were completely bashed up- first broken, and then smashed on the ground to save Ash from the fifty-feet tall fall from the top of the shadow that she fought the night before...

It had continued to serve her well, though. The shadows that had pulled her in last night had been done in- that was all Ash remembered. Then she must have found herself a ditch and collapsed in it.

She shakily stood up, and then fell right back down. Her leg was broken, Ash noticed. Not from the pain- she was completely numb- but from the fact that it was in an odd position. Ash sat down and put her hands on the leg. Since she was numb, she might as well set it in.

She confidently pulled it out and reset it in its socket- but as soon as it fell back into place, pain arced back up from the knee.

Ash hissed. She wasn't numb anymore.

Ash grabbed her spear and slowly got on her feet, leaning heavily on her one good leg and the spear. This was not the first time her spear had been her substitute leg.

Ash slowly began to limp towards the light. Behind her was the cloud of shadows.

If she made one wrong move, they'd swarm her and she wouldn't be able to fight back.

Ash laughed softly.

It was oddly sort of fun being in a dangerous situation.

* * *

Cura knocked on Wolf's office and then without waiting for an answer he opened the door. He walked straight into Wolf's steamy bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Wolf looked up at him and said, "Please come in, Cura." He said sarcastically.

Wolf was soaking in a bathtub, with only his head above the steam. Cura walked over and expertly wrapped Wolf's blue hair up in a towel. "I suspect that his majesty is mad at me."

"You suspect..." Wolf murmured. Cura took a towel and started washing his neck.

"I don't really know why," Cura said. "But, continue being cold. It's a bit satisfying to have his majesty be cold to me."

"I don't know why you have to be so rude to my guests!"

"Me? Rude?" Cura said, his eyebrows raised. He dropped the towel and wiped off his fogged-up glasses. "I wasn't being rude. I was just being like myself. I'm like that to everybody."

"I know that! But they don't... And to be honest, you yourself is a terrific example of rude."

"What about me is rude?!" Cura said as he rubbed soap into Wolf's hair.

"Your lack of emotions at Ash's situation, your lack of consolation, your... Being you!" Wolf said.

"Now, that's not fair. I can't help being me." Cura said, massaging Wolf's hair into a white bubbling cloud of soap.

Wolf went silent.

Cura lifted his hand out of Wolf's thick hair and rinsed it off. He then took off his shirt and glanced at Wolf, who was slowly sinking into the bliss of a bubble bath.

"Do you want me to get in with you, your majesty?"

"... I'm engaged now, Cura. And I can wash myself."

"Good. You can ask her to come bathe with you." Cura said calmly.

Wolf blushed. "I can't do that. She'd faint and drown in here."

Cura pursed his lips. "See that. You're completely soft on women. You have no problem doing all sorts of things to me, and yet once I mention the princess you turn red and claim her innocence."

"You're different. I swear half the time you're forcing me to do... Those things."

"I plead innocent."

* * *

Mira stared at the patron of the kitchen with an open mouth.

"What do you mean they are _LOVERS_?!"


	5. injured

Ash stumbled, and fell down.

Ash got up, and continued walking.

Ash stumbled, and fell down.

Ash got up, and continued walking.

Ash stumbled, and fell down.

Ash didn't get up again.

* * *

Mira heard shouts and some male shouting. She ran out of her bedroom and down the stairs. By the time she got out into the courtyard, she knew what was going on.

They've found Ash!

She ran over, holding up her thick blue dress, and didn't stop until she got to the returning search party.

Even before Mira got close enough to see the damage clearly, she knew it was bad. Ash's skin was burned to almost to the color of her hair. Half over her face was burned badly, along with her wrists. Her armor protected the rest of her skin from burns, but not much of anything else.

As Mira ran closer, she saw the leg and gasped. It was twisted almost completely off. Mira lurched to the side and retched. Three servants quickly ran over to help her up, but she waved two of them away. "Ash comes first! Ger her inside! Get her one of those skin fixes..."

Wolf walked up, ordered the medics to stand aside, picked Ash up without a problem, and ran inside. Mira grabbed Ash's spear, ignored the servants' hand, and ran for the castle as well.

Kit sat up when the door to his bedroom slammed open, and his eyes widened when Wolf entered carrying Ash. "You found her...!" He exclaimed.

Wolf set Ash down on the bed next to Kit and began to unbuckle her armor. Behind him, Cura walked in, holding up a medical kit.

Mira ran into the room after the orange-haired young man and waved the spear at him. "Call the castle doctor! We need an emergency surgery right now-"

"I _am_ the castle doctor," Cura said. "I am the king's companion, I can do anything." He added a he pulled out cleaning fluids, ointments, and three rolls of bandages.

_King's companion..._ Mira thought a moment. "Don't you mean lover?"

Wolf choked. He held up Ash's chest armor plate. "W-who told-?"

Cura shook his head as he applied alcohol on the leg. "Oh, lord, this woman must be extremely insensitive to pain if she walked with this leg..."

Wolf glanced at Cura, and then at Mira with his mouth open. But both were calmly cleaning Ash and fixing her up. Kit raised his eyebrows.

Cura finally looked up from sewing Ash's skin together and sighed at Wolf. "It's not surprising, Wolf, for a king to have a male companion/lover to satisfy him without a chance of unmarried pregnancy before he marries."

Mira nodded. "It's actually very common in history to have a three-way marriage... Although I was a bit surprised at first that you two were that close..." She began to turn a little pink, but kept her voice steady.

"What do you mean, you were surprised?" Cura asked Mira as he prepared another needle and thread.

"That you'd actually have any kind of emotion," Mira answered, taking the needle that he was fumbling with, and threaded it easily. She passed it back and he began to sew. Wolf watched their partnership with a shocked expression.

"I have emotions! I just do not like to show them." Cura muttered. Mira elbowed him and nodded at Wolf, who was half-dead with embarrassment. She winked at Cura. Cura raised his eyebrows back.

Kit raised a hand.

"So, how's Wolf like in bed?"

Mira flushed red, Wolf fainted, and Cura stuck a needle into Kit's arm, knocking him out with a goodly dose of anesthesia.

* * *

Ash woke up when a chilly breeze touched her skin. She blinked and sat up. She felt her skin tingle. Her leg was in a neat bandaged splint, and her burns were smeared with ointment. She looked to her left.

Kit looked up and grinned at her. "Good, ah, night, sergeant."

She looked outside the window, where the moon was shining, casting silky lights on Kit's chest. She looked away and pulled up some blankets. "You found me."

"Not me. Wolf and his search party. They tied my ass to this bed so I wouldn't go after you."

"Good. You're injured."

Kit laughed. "Says you! Have you had a look in a mirror yet?!"

Ash rubbed her arms, and noticed that she didn't have her armor on. She felt naked with it- she sometimes even slept in that thing. She was in a simple white shift.

She looked around, and noticed her spear, now clean and polished, leaning against the wall in the corner. Kit watched her line of sight and grinned. He got up and took it from the corner and brought it over to her.

She took it gratefully.

Kit went over and closed the window, and the cool draft disappeared. Ash gripped her spear. God, it felt good to have it back in her hand, the familiar weight against her wrist.

"You sleep with that thing, right?" Kit smirked. "What was her name, again?"

"Angel," Ash said, "Her name is Blue Angel."

Kit shook his head. "If you ever get a man, he'd be jealous of that damn spear."

"No he won't," Ash whispered, "Because he'd understand my relationship with this spear. And he'd know everything about me already."

"Really, you'd tell him about how I went to the market with all my cash and bought the best spear base I could find, and gave it to you after you told me how you got into the castle?"

"No, I wouldn't have to tell him. He already knows."

"Yeah, that legends famous!" Kit laughed. "Everyone in South Gemma knows." He looked at Ash and her spear, and admired the diamond edge. "It didn't start out so fine, though. You upgraded it every time you got the chance. That tip was fashioned when we helped out the old blacksmith... And the diamond dust was give to you by a rich merchant when we saved his shipment... You spent weeks rubbing it on, remember?"

"Yes, I remember." _And everyone else said that it wouldn't work, but you came over and helped me._

"God, that thing itself is a story! Everything you and I did together, but that's not the reason you treasure it, right?"

Ash didn't say anything. _Yes, yes it is..._

"I wonder how many shadows has that thing destroyed with you? Goddamn... Probably ten thousand by now, maybe even more." Kit laughed. "When will you get a new weapon?"

"Never," Ash said, swinging the spear up in the air with arcs of silver. "It would take another ten years of using a weapon to get to this level of intimacy again with another spear."

Kit yawned. Ash turned to him, and said. "Close the lights. Go to bed." She made it an order, and started to pull her blankets up to her chin.

Kit looked over to her and watched as she struggled to pull a blanket that was stuck under her bandaged leg. "Get over here."

Ash froze, her hand limply holding the edge of her blanket.

"There aren't enough blankets there. Come here, sleep on this bed with me."

Ash shook her head. "It's fine."

Kit walked over, picked her up despite her protests, and tossed her onto his bed. He then gathered up her blankets and put those on his bed too. "Here, this way it'll be warmer, and you can't escape-" He pulling her down as she started getting up. "-With your broken leg."

"Don't be shy~ We're practically brother and sister anyway..." He teased, noticing her slight flush.

Kit wrapped Ash up with all the blankets. He tucked her spear in as well. Then he settled in next to her. He turned his head until it faced his wall. He put an arm under his head, and leaned his back on the cocoon that was Ash.

Ash suddenly reached out, and without warning, tossed her blankets over him and enveloped him in a hug. Kit froze up. "O-okay..." He said. "This is fine too." He swallowed.

Ash grinned into the folds of her blanket layers. In the back of her head, she felt something ring, telling her that something was not quite right. The castle doctor must have given her something to ease the pain... She ignored the annoyingly strict voice and snuggled in closer. She loosely wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed into the blankets.

Her hair tickled Kit's nose.

It was warm... Ash felt a yawn escape her, and then she melted into sleep...

Leaving Kit to lay there like a wooden block, a sergeant on his body and a spear at his throat.

* * *

Kit woke up suddenly when he felt the spear press into his throat. He slid upwards a bit to avoid getting his throat sliced.

As he shifted slightly, he felt Ash move. He gritted his teeth. _Don't move, Ash! You'd murder me accidentally in your sleep!_ He thought. He sighed in relief as she stopped shifting around. He laughed ruefully. _I bet this wouldn't happen if I slept with Mira..._

Ash suddenly sat up. Kit jolted a little with shock. The spear slid out of its little nest in the blankets and clattered on the floor, but now Kit was in a even greater danger than before.

She rubbed her face and glared at Kit with her red eyes. His blood froze. Ash was notorious for being a demon when she woke up early. Outside, the sun was just rising. Kit half-grinned at her. "G-good morning... Oof!"

Ash closed her eyes and fell back down on his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and went right back to sleep. Kit lifted his arms and, unsure of what to do with them, he re-covered Ash with blankets. He sighed. "What am I, a body pillow?"

He felt her bandaged leg in between his. "God, you really do push yourself too hard." Just as he said that, Ash turned her head and pressed her lips on Kit's neck. He froze.

There was another legend of Ash having sets of poison needles hidden in her front teeth (although Kit haven't seen any) and that to activate them, she bit down hard three times and then bit the victim on the throat, killing them.

Kit didn't see her bite down three times, he couldn't tell what anything was happening under the thick blankets.

Kit felt sweat roll down his face. Why the hell did he invite an assassin into his bed?!

The door opened.

Mira walked with a tray laden with a giant breakfast. She smiled at Kit, and then saw Ash's arms around him and giggled. Kit waved his arms, signaling "THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE" and "HELP ME!"

Mira raised her eyebrows and set down the tray on his table, and then left, waving at Kit as she left. He had the look of a drowning man as she closed the door behind her.

As her footsteps faded away, Kit rubbed his face and sighed.

The smell of coffee drifted over.

* * *

Ash woke up when the crust of a piece of toast was waved over her nose. She immediately sat up and pounced on it, swallowing it in one bit. As she licked syrup off her fingers, she noticed the chagrined expression on Kit as he lay beneath her. Her chest lightly brushed the tip of his nose.

Ash froze, her mouth full of toast. Suddenly, her white shift felt very thin.

Kit raised an eyebrow. "Are you ever gonna get off?"

There was a long and very awkward pause. Kit waited expectantly.

Ash pointed to her broken leg. Her legs were on each side of his hips. She furiously chewed, and then swallowed her sticky toast. "Please release my unbroken leg."

Kit lifted the blankets, and realized what his hand was holding. His hand gripping her thigh. He let go abruptly. He stared at his hand, his eyes wide. When in hell did it get there?! And why?! He thought. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was..." He muttered, easing up and turned his face away from her breasts.

Ash ignored him and clambered off to retrieved her spear, which lay on the floor, hiding the flush that was creeping up her neck. She picked Blue Angel up and used it as a cane, and she limped to the table, where the tray sat full of breakfast goodies.

Kit pulled himself up until he was in a sitting position and stretched. God, he felt more tired than he was when he went to sleep last night! He got up and walked to the table.

"Why is my spear tipped with syrup?" Ash murmured as she shoved pancakes into her mouth and chewed. Kit pulled a chair over and sat down. "Because I used it to get a piece of toast over to wake you up."

Ash raised her eyebrow and didn't comment. She stuck a strip of bacon halfway into her mouth and left it hanging there as she wiped off the top of her spear with a wet towel.

Kit poured himself some coffee. He needed that. "Hey, I have a question," he said.

Ash nodded at him. "Yeah?"

"Is it true... That you have a poison-filled needle in your teeth?" Kit asked. Ash bared her teeth at him, suddenly leaning forward. He instinctively pushed back, tilting his chair and almost falling off. Ash laughed. Kit steadied his heart and sat up. "Jeez, don't do that!"

"No, that's a legend." Ash said, tearing into a piece of ham.

Kit starting buttering a toast. "Oh."

"But, that is a good idea..." Ash paused, and suddenly pursed her lips. "How would I get a needle small enough to-"

"NO!" Kit shouted. As she stared at him, he quickly calmed down. "I mean, no, it's a terrible idea. _Don't_ get it. You could kill yourself accidentally... You could kill _someone else_ accidentally! Like, someone _close_ to you."

Ash looked at him for a moment, and then shrugged and went back to eating. "Sure... Alright."

Kit sighed in relief. He then started to devour a stack of pancakes, grinning.

Just how many lives did he just save in the last few sentences?

Definitely more than ten thousand...

* * *

Ash pulled the door to her new sergeant's quarters at the North castle open and pushed her luggage inside. She leaned on the door to close it, and then dragged herself and her broken foot to the bed, using her spear with each step.

She set her leg on the bed first, and then got the rest of her body on it. She lay on it for a moment, catching her breath.

There was a knock on her door. "Come in," Ash said.

"Good morning, Ash~," Mira said naughtily, her eyebrows lifted. She walked in and set the flowers that she was carrying on Ash's new nightstand. "_Sleep well_?" Mira asked with a teasing tone.

Ash laughed. "I didn't know what I was doing." She said, feeling herself blush as she said it. "Cura must have given me an alcohol-based pain medication."

"Oh, of course." Mira winked at Ash, and then began to look around the spacious room. "The layout is exactly the same as your office at home! Look, the desk and the bookcase is still the same... I swear even the maps are similar!"

"Yes, of course. Every sergeant has had the same room. It's been proven to be the best for invoking brain use and is the most organized way to sort a room... See, the bed in the middle, the desk and the bookcase on one side, the nightstand and the bigger table for discussion on the other side, and the weapons rack and socket right next to the bed." Ash said.

Mira raised her eyebrows. "Such plain walls..." She murmured.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just going to put up more maps and diagrams anyway. This room looks like the one in the South castle when I first became sergeant..." Ash smiled.

"I remember!" Mira said. "I was the one who promoted you, and _Kit_ was the one who put up the first awards on a tack-board you had hanging over the weapons rack."

Ash nodded. "Yeah."

Mira's green eyes sparkled.

The door opened again, and Wolf walked in. He looked at Ash and said, "I'm here to discuss when you're going to be back on your sergeant's duties."

Ash smiled politely at him. "That won't be a problem, I'll be back in a week."

Wolf sighed. "I'm afraid I can't allow that..." He said. He glanced to the side. He had a feeling torture was coming. Ash sat up, her red eyes lighting up like fire and started burning. Heat practically emanated from her pupils. "I have to get back with my men in week."

"You have a broken bone, sergeant! Not to mention half of your skin is burned-"

Ash peeled off her bandages and showed her healed skin to Wolf, and he choked, partly because over her bared skin and partly because it was healed. "How did it heal so fast?!" Wolf exclaimed.

"After being exposed to the mist so many times before, the skin develops a resistance to it," said a voice from behind Wolf. Wolf moved towards Mira to let Cura in. Cura walked in and closed the door behind him. "Sergeant Ash, my king is weak."

Wolf raised his eyebrows. Mira covered her mouth, hiding a smile.

"But he, and all of your soldiers, are worried about you," Cura continued. "And they've reached a decision."

Ash raised her eyebrows.

"You are not to get out of that bed with your broken leg until it is healed and I am the castle doctor and I prescribe (at the very least) two weeks- and so help me I will tie you to that bed and take away the spear you adore to wield so much!" Cura shouted.

Wolf stood forward. "And that is an order." He added.

Ash twitched. "There's a giant cloud of goddamn shadows hanging outside in the forest, and you expect me to be in bed for two weeks?! This would heal in a week-"

Cura took Mira and pulled her outside. "Leave this to Wolf- and you might not want to hear this part."

They waited outside as the curses and the shouts calmed down, and then Wolf came out of Ash's room looking like a drained man. He looked at Cura and gave him a tired thumbs-up.

Mira giggled, gave Wolf an unexpected hug for going along with her request that Ash stay in bed for two weeks, surprising him, and then went back into her room to calm her down.

Wolf sighed and rubbed his forehead. Cura raised his eyebrow. "The things you do for your fiancé... Or is it for the sergeant inside that room?"

Wolf glared at him, his blue eyes icy.

"Alright, touchy topic."

* * *

Ash fumed on her bed. Mira smiled at her. "He really was worried about you, you know."

"I have to get that cloud destroyed before the first snow, or else the war against that thing will drag out into the next year," Ash muttered.

Mira sat down on the bed. "You know, I was a bit jealous." Ash felt her heart drop a little. "Of Kit?"

"No, why would I be jealous of Kit?" Mira laughed. Ash felt her worries reside. "No reason."

"No, I was a tiny bit jealous of Wolf and you." Mira said. Ash raised her eyebrows. "On what basis?"

"Nothing... Just that he was really worried about you, and then he carried you inside, and he also had the exact same taste for cake-" Mira stared at Ash's confused expression. "Oh, never-mind."

Ash didn't find Mira's words important and disregarded them. The two of them sat there in companionable silence, until dinnertime where Cura opened the door to find them both asleep, leaning on each other.

* * *

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	6. cured

Wolf took out his sketchpad and started drawing an outline of Mira's face. Her round, angelic face, and then her large green eyes, always glittering bright. Her curls of red hair and her wavy bangs... He couldn't draw her likeliness, no matter how hard he tried.

His hands just wouldn't move the right way. He knew this feeling. It was the feeling he got when he had started a project and just could not work on another piece until he finished. His hands twitched. He wanted to work on that drawing so bad.

He gave in to the feeling.

He tossed the sketchpad away and went to the drawer on his desk, pulled it out, and fished around until he pulled out another sketchpad that was hidden under a bunch of ink jars and junk from work.

He flipped through drawings of flowers, drawings of Cura, and drawings of the castle until he reached the one he had drawn completely from memory right after he met her.

The exact copy of Ash glared at him through the paper of his sketchpad. Her sharp red gaze, her pointed nose, her eyebrows that curved to accent her thick black lashes... Her long bangs that shaped her face and her long dark ponytail.

He picked up his pencil and started drawing her neck and her chest. Strong arms, lined with muscle. Her chest plate, which hid her curves. She had a soft curvaceous body, which was hidden under her armor. Tanned skin. Compared to her, Mira was a thin, light-skinned princess who didn't know how to wield a sword correctly.

Wolf put down his pencil and ripped the drawing out of his sketchpad. Is this what it feels like to have a forbidden love? Well, this wasn't any fun at all. If it was a perfect world, he'd take her and run, and never look back.

But this wasn't a perfect world, and he was a king, who had to rule a small, dying kingdom who was shrinking from the ever-expanding forest filled with monsters. A drained kingdom with depressed citizens. Where the only calm people were insane and weren't afraid of death.

Wolf's hand shook a little, but he resolved to his decision.

Wolf crumpled up the paper, tossed it to the floor, and didn't give it another glance.

* * *

Cura walked through the towers until he reached to last one. He watched Kit as he aimed his gun and picked off shadows on the outermost layer of the cloud hovering over the forest.

Cura watched as Kit looked through his gun's eyepiece, aimed, and fired. A second later a tiny explosion can be seen on the cloud. Sometimes the explosion would set off another one, dissipating two shadows.

Kit glanced at Cura. "What are you doing here, _butler_?" Something about the calm, organized orange-haired perfectionist rubbed him the wrong way.

"Manager, if you will." Cura replied. He walked over to Kit. "I see you have quite an aim."

Kit didn't say anything, but instead peered through the telescope and focused on finding another target. Cura leaned down and said, "You have the aim, but lack the intelligence."

Kit raised his eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?" Yep, this guy was irritating... Like all the other old dusty professors. Probably all talk and no action-

Cura pointed at the cloud. "Picking off the ones in the outermost layer won't do us all any bit of good. You have to hit off a chain that sets off a whole string off shadow explosions that continue all the way to the inside of the cloud."

"Like that is even possible," Kit muttered. "Keep dreaming, butler."

Cura stood back up and pointed to the direction of the cloud. "Shoot at that one. The one hanging off the edge. I'm no sniper, so you find the heart and pierce it."

Kit looked through the telescope and studied the shadow that Cura was pointing out. If it were any other time of day he'd just shoot off a random bullet and see how the shadow moved to protect its core. But there was this guy here, and Kit knew he has only one chance to wipe that calm I-can-tell-what-you-are-thinking look.

"There you are," Kit whispered when he found the denser, blue-oily-black section of the shadow. He fired.

The shadow exploded. And then the one next to it exploded, and then two shadows next to the second explosion also set off, and then one more towards the inside of the cloud sparked off, and then three more in succession. When the misty fog that came after a shadow dissipates cleared, there was a large crater on the cloud.

Kit watched this in astonishment, his mouth open. He heard a few guys down below whistle, and say, "That Kit, man, what a show-off." He looked back at Cura. This _guy_... Kit caught Cura's self-satisfied glance and glanced away.

Cura smiled like he knew all the thoughts running around Kit's head. Kit looked away, but when he was sure Cura wasn't paying attention, he looked back.

Cura tilted his head, his eyes piercing straight into Kit's, who had been trying to not catch his gaze. The three gold earrings on his left ear suddenly gleamed in the sunlight as his orange hair parted. "I didn't think you'd actually get it in one shot. Very nice."

Then he leaned closer to Kit and whispered, "I am always paying attention." Cura turned his heel and left, leaving a shocked Kit standing there. Not soon after, more shots are heard as the team of snipers began to expand the crater.

* * *

Cura stood outside the little princess's room. In his hand he held a few wedding planners. He lifted up his hand and knocked on the door. Mira opened it a few moments later.

"Ah, not a single question on who it was. Very trusting, aren't you? An extremely safe practice." Cura immediately quipped.

Mira rolled her eyes. "_Come on in_, Cura. _Nice to see you too_!" She said sarcastically. "What a_ lovely_ hello and salutation you have bestowed upon me!"

Cura pressed down the urge to smile. So the princess did have some satire in her. He walked into the room and surveyed the new structures and the dresses that lay everywhere. "I'm sure you find this room suitable?" He had it chosen especially for her.

Mira nodded. "It's wonderful. It had a perfect view out the big window balcony over there."

Cura raised his eyebrows. "Of what? You like forests?" He asked, looking out the window at the dark green blanket. "Although, to be fair, it still is the best view we have in the North kingdom, sadly."

Mira shook her head and dragged Cura to the side of the large balcony. She pointed to a section of the castle that can be viewed from the window. "That's Ash's barracks." Cura nodded. "Yes, the sergeant's." He noted the potted plants that ringed the balcony.

Mira pointed at the balcony below it. "And that's Kit's balcony." Cura raised his eyebrows. "The... Sniper."

Mira smiled. "Each and every time they get a new barrack of some sort, Ash always manages to get the room above Kit's. Once, she messed up and got to this one rich merchant's castle (there was a party that we were attending) really late and Kit changed _his_ room so that he would have his balcony below hers."

Cura looked at Mira, who smiled fondly out the window. "How romantic, don't you agree? Each night they go out and talk on that balcony. It's their own little secret. They don't think I know, but oh, I _do_! In the old castle, I have a telescope set up in my drawer. I've even learned to read lips a little!"

Cura raised his eyebrows. _Perhaps I've underestimated the princess..._ He thought.

"Although sometimes I don't catch what they're saying quite right." Mira said. "Once, Ash said that Kit was in love with someone, but I thought he liked her...?"

"I understand," Cura said. Mira looked at him. "I will procure you the best telescope that is sold here in the North kingdom."

Mira stared blankly at him for a moment, and then laughed. "Oh, no, that wasn't my intention. I don't need a telescope. I just-"

"Anyways, on the task at hand," Cura quickly cut her off before she could refuse his offer. "I have wedding planners. For the wedding."

Mira sat down and cleared off a table. She pushed flowers and chocolates off of it and tossed a dress to her bed. She then took the wedding books and flipped through them. After a few pages, she looked up. "But the wedding isn't till spring."

"It just means that we have more time to make the best wedding possible," was his quick reply. "It's never to early to start."

"Well... I've never heard it said that way before..." Mira murmured, flipping through more bouquets and cake arrangements. Cura pulled the books away from her. "I'll decide the decorations, your only task is to pick a dress."

Mira smiled at him. "I have complete faith in you."

"Me too," Cura remarked, handing her a thin pamphlet of dress bases. "First choose a base, then an accessory that you like, and then a pair of gloves. Choose carefully- I'll be back tomorrow to work based on what you like."

Mira nodded, already flipping through the pamphlet.

Cura left her there, mentally adding "buy a telescope" to his to-do list.

* * *

Cura was standing 50 feet away from the entrance to the practice ring when he began to hear the sharp clangs and the shouts of the soldiers. He walked closer and peered inside.

Ash swung her one spear and knocked the soldier off his feet. Two other, fully-armored rank 5 soldiers immediately flanked her, and she, faster than lightning, bashed up the one to the left and tossed him into the one on the right.

Cura watched in amazement as she took on ten soldiers at once and emerged a bit bruised but nonetheless still bloodthirsty as ever. Her red eyes glowed as her spear drew long blue flashes through the men, bowling them completely over, taking them on two, three at a time and then immediately balancing her fight evenly so that each time a soldier was knocked back, she knocked another one down before he got back around.

She was completely unarmored.

She grinned fiercely, blood running down the side of her mouth. Sweat made her white uniform stick to her slender arms. "Who's next?" She shouted, her voice echoing through the arena.

Everyone went still, and the sound died off.

For such a tiny human being (topping Mira by 3 inches, losing to Wolf by half a foot), Sergeant Ash was quite the fighter, despite her slim figure, which he suspected was mostly muscle.

Sergeant Ash was a rank 1, no questions asked.

Cura walked in, looking around. Ash wiped off her face with a wet towel. Cura raised his eyebrow as the white towel was stained pink.

Ash looked up. "Good afternoon, Wolf's lover," She deadpanned.

Behind her, a soldier choked on his drinking water. Laughter erupted. Ash looked around, confused. She looked back at Cura. "I mean no offense. I was merely stating your title." Behind her, a another soldier face-palmed.

Cura shook his head at the soldiers. "Get back to training, you slackers." He yelled, and then nodded at Ash. "Call me Cura." He studied her carefully, and then noticed something that made his eyes narrow.

He pushed her out of the training arena, well out of sight, and then he immediately tucked his little notepad into his pocket along with his pencil, and swept her off her feet.

"Cura!" She said, affronted. "What-"

Cura ran towards the back stairs, the ones that only the servants used. He practically flew up the stairs with her in his arms princess-style. He ran into his quarters, dumped her on the bed, and tugged off her pants. There was a tie that Cura swiftly undid.

Ash slapped his hands away as he began to run his hands over her waist. But before she could say anything, he began to unravel her bandages. Ash squeaked. "H-hey!"

Cura glared at her, his eyes bright orange. He pulled a roll of new bandages from his shirt pocket and ripped off a strand with his teeth. "You _stupid_, stupid sergeant!" He growled.

Ash blinked as he quickly reapplied ointment and re-wrapped new bandages on her injuries, which were surprisingly just about healed. "Honestly, I can't believe your soldiers hadn't even noticed yet- or you've acted so normally... Someone's landed a hit on you hard right here." Cura pressed a new bruise that was on her thigh.

Ash sighed. "It'll be healed before you know it."

"If that's the way you view injuries it's no surprise that you have so many scars," Cura shot back, his long fingers performing their best with a roll of bandages. "Just think, sergeant, if you collapsed from..."

Ash fought the urge to roll her eyes, and Cura's voice lecturing her faded out as she thought of snuggling up with Kit.

After a few moments, he finished up and then took a quick look at her previously broken leg. It's only been a few days, but an energy capsule was clasped tightly around it, healing it in an amazingly short amount of time. This method caused quite a lot of strain on the leg, but by the looks of it, it has been broken and healed the same way before.

Cura absentmindedly caressed her skin. It was such a nice color and had such a wonderful texture. He peered around curiously, noting the scars. That one was definitely from a dagger... This one's an arrow, and it looked very old...

"Ahem."

He looked up, where Ash was slightly flushed. He promptly let go. "I'm sorry... I've been told that I have a creepy fascination with the human body and I can honestly say that yours is quite the excellent specimen."

Ash began to put on her uniform again, but Cura pulled it off her. He tossed her a bathrobe and picked up the uniform. He pointed at a tiny blood stain on the uniform's leg, and another one at the elbow. "Your bandages aren't as tough as you are, Ash. They're going to downright fall off if you continue like this. I'll report this to Wolf the next time."

"Consider this a warning," Cura muttered, regretting his decision to not tell Wolf immediately. He wondered if he could ask Wolf to pretend that he had not told him Ash had injured herself practicing... But that impulsive king would run out and tackle her into bed without another thought.

Ash nodded, relieved. She was beginning to feel the ointment work, and the pain she had been fighting the last couple of hours was fading away. "Thank you, Cura." She said.

He shook his head at her, shooting her another angry and motherly look at her before he turned around and opened the door. He left her in his organized, neatly arranged quarters and sent a servant to wash her uniform. Then he began walking to his last stop of the day.

Ash felt her arm go numb. The ointment and the tight bandages were working too well. She could barely feel anything. She clumsily stuck her arm into the sleeve of the bathrobe and pulled the other side on. She tied it sloppily and it fell open almost immediately. She gave up. She was still sweaty. God, she wanted to take a bath. The bathrobe only went up to her thighs. It was way too short.

She opened the door, walked out, and stared into the visage of Kit.

He looked at her half-undressed state, stared at her undid bathrobe, her sweat, and her flushed face. He glanced at the room number and the name tacked below it. Ash opened her mouth, a million excuses on her tongue but none came out, her voice stuck in her throat.

* * *

Cura knocked on the door to Wolf's office, and when no reply was given, he walked in. He set a stack of papers down on his desk, and out of the corner of his eye, Cura spied a crumpled-up piece of drawing paper.

Cura picked it up and unfolded it. Wolf was quite an artist, and Cura was a large fan of the art that Wolf considered "mistakes." When he had free time, he would decipher it and see if he could figure out what his majesty was thinking while he was drawing. This might be a valuable addition to his portfolio-

Oh, there was no interpretation needed for this one.

There's been a recent study over at the university Cura had studied in (really the only education system the kingdom could afford, for anoyone smart enough to get in- but they had to pay for any prior education up to the point so despite many atempts most of the students were rich snobs) that the more dangerous, or "off-limits," something is the more certain people are fascinated with or attracted to it.

Cura stared at the shaded drawing of Ash, a piece almost bursting with love and care. Her sharpest glare cut through him, staring into his soul. Cura knew that this was completely from memory... He could see Wolf frantically working on this day and night, all his pencils tested until he found the perfect one to draw a single, careful line...

He thought back to Mira's adoring gaze on Wolf, Kit's unmasked crushing, and Ash...

This may present a problem.


	7. yearwalk

Ash and Kit stood on the balcony, each with their own respective guns. Kit aimed and blew off a charge off energy that fried another shadow. Ash noticed the big crater that they were all aiming to expand. "I heard you started that crater with one shot, Kit," she commented.

"Oh, that's all Cura. He came in here, told me to pop off one, and somehow it set off this huge chain." Kit muttered. "It's like the man knows the future. It's unnerving."

Ash refused to break into a grin. Kit looked at her and then went back to aiming. "You know, becoming a sergeant doesn't mean you're not allowed to laugh or smile... I mean, it's not like you have to act like an eighty year old general just because you got promoted," he muttered.

Ash pointed at a shadow, aimed, and missed. She grinned crookedly. "I'm almost there, though. Just sixty years and one promotion."

Kit was nonchalantly firing off shots, but when she mentioned 'sixty' he jumped a little and missed wildly. He yelled an apology at the soldier he just fried and looked back at Ash. "You're_ twenty years old_?!"

Ash smiled. "Yes, just barely... My birthday was a couple of days ago."

Behind them, there was a huge crash and a metallic clatter. The two of them turned around just in time to see Mira's horrified face. Mira stared at them, picked up the platter, and then turned and ran. As her heels clicked down the stairs, Ash sighed. "So much for keeping it a secret..." She muttered.

She looked over at Kit, who had an extremely smug expression. "What?!" Ash growled at his expression. Kit's face didn't falter.

He leaned in close... Ash's heartbeat sped up, pumping blood to her face...

... And whispered seductively...

"I'm older than you, Sergeant Ash."

Ash pushed him away a bit too hard and he fell backwards over the balcony.

* * *

The door to Wolf's office slammed open, making Wolf and Cura jump. Mira tumbled through, tears streaming down her face. "I-it's- it_ was_ Ash's b-birthday~!" She wailed.

Wolf immediately got off his chair and helped her up. "What?! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He asked.

Mira wiped her eyes and looked at him. "... Where's your shirt?"

Wolf only wore his pants and one sock. He looked back at his Cura leaned against his table with his other sock. Cura raised his eyebrows innocently.

Mira's eyes went flat. "Did I come in a bad time?"

Wolf shook his head. "He was just dressing me!"

Mira nodded. "Oh..." She said without too much conviction. "Anyways..." She quickly started walking to the door.

"Wait! Why were you crying?" Wolf said as Cura finished up quickly and slipped on his tie. Mira immediately remembered. "It was Ash's birthday! And I completely forgot!" She said. "She never wants a big fuss, but..." Then a light-bulb lit up over her head and she ran off, saying that she had a perfect gift.

Wolf was balanced on one leg as Cura was putting on his other sock, but when Mira mentioned Ash and birthday, Wolf froze... And immediately toppled over without even bothering to stand up or catch himself.

Cura looked at his stricken King and sighed. It seems that his king was equally terrified of and enamored of sergeant Ash.

* * *

"Kit!" Mira hissed. He turned around and walked towards her, flipping his hair back. "Yes, my princess?" He said in his best sexy voice, which even worked (slightly) on sergeant Ash.

Mira shoved a bunch of dressed into his face, completely unaffected. "Which on do you think suits Ash best? Purple or pink?!"

"... I don't think dresses suit Ash," Kit said offhandedly. Mira peered over his shoulder and gasped. Kit turned around and stifled a scream.

Ash raised eyebrow at their reactions, her spear in hand, completely dressed in her armor. "Princess, I really don't want a big fuss about this..." Mira tossed her a bunch of dresses, completely ignoring her request. "Ash~! Happy 20th birthday!"

The passing flank of soldiers froze and stared up to them. Ash felt a vein pop on her forehead. "It's sergeant Ash's birthday! Holy! How old do you think she is- By her chest size, probably-" They whispered among themselves, shocked. They got out of form, stumbling and tripping.

Ash tossed a shield at them, knocking most of them over. "GET BACK TO PRACTICE YOU BASTARDS!" She growled.

They regrouped and marched away in quadruple speed. As soon as they got to the practice room, they immediately split off to run to the market.

Kit picked Mira up and ran off before either of them got murdered.

When they got to her room, Kit knocked down a bag of painting supplies as he stormed in and he slammed the door closed. He sighed and caught his breath as Mira picked up the bag. "I got it!" She shouted. She pulled out the painting she had been working on.

Kit looked over and felt his hopes rise.

He stared down at the painting of Ash, completely dressed in her blue armor. "Oh..." He breathed happily. "That's why you wanted blue powder!" He said, realizing his earlier jealousy was based off of nothing.

Ash's glittered eyes stared back at him and Kit laughed at where the red paint went. He black hair was drawn in with charcoal and streaks of lack ink. "What?" Mira asked. "Why else do you think I wanted blue and red paint?"

_Because I thought you wanted to paint Wolf... Perhaps also with yourself in there as well. _Kit leaned over and tilted his head until he was leaning on her shoulder and watched contently as she painted the last few strokes, mixing powders with some water she got out of the bucket in her washroom.

* * *

Wolf ran like a madman around the market, kept on a tight leash (literally) by Cura. "It's her birthday, it's her birthday," Wolf muttered as he pottered around, picking up trinkets and flowers, and then rejecting said trinkets and flowers.

"What would she like? She's a spear-wielder, am I right? She would like some pads to prevent chaffing from armor? I'm sure she already has those," he said worriedly. Cura shook his head, finding himself a little bit more than just annoyed at Wolf's anxiety over a simple birthday present for the sergeant.

Ah, jealousy. Long time no see.

Cura pushed Wolf towards the jewelry shop, tightening the leash. "That woman likes metals. Why not get her something to remind her that she need not only use metals for warfare."

"Good idea, Cura!" Wolf said, bounding over to the jewelry shop like a puppy. Like a little baby wolf. Cura shook his head, sighed, waved at a few ladies that were staring at his pierced ears, spiky hair, and loosened tie, and then ran after his master.

Wolf entered the jewelry shop and started walking around, his leash trailing behind him, causing quite a bit of strange looks. Cura caught up to him and straightened his cloak, covering his signature blue hair with a swift pull on his cloak's end.

Then Cura pushed him to the necklace section, saying, "Ash is a quite frontal-attack fighter. I do not recommend a bracelet, which might hinder her movement, so... A necklace, perhaps?" Cura began peering over at the jeweled strings of metal. He could not fathom how such chunks of earth-stuffs could please anyone.

He turned around to where his majesty was studying a white-silver emerald-studded neck collar. Cura knew immediately that it would suit Ash. The majesty has quite the eye for- _what was he doing?!_

Wolf had suddenly disappeared. Cura looked around in shock. How?! Cura spied Wolf at the counter and he ran over, tossing away the leash that had been cut.

"I would like this piece, please." Wolf was saying calmly to the cashier, pointing at a silver _ring_. "I'd like it to be engraved: to my wife, Ash-"

Cura smashed his majesty's face (and his hopes and dreams) into the glass counter top as he roared...

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR _MIND_?!"

* * *

From her balcony, Ash stared serenely at the sunset as it slowly faded.

Behind her, the door opened and people poured in. She dropped her metal coffee cup, ignoring the crash and his curses as it connected with Kit's head in the balcony below hers. Goddamn his stupid voice that was so loud!

The soldiers tossed her flowers and she shoved them out. After a stack of presents piled up, Wolf and Mira walked in, followed by Cura. Ash glared at Kit in particular. He winced and hid behind Mira.

Mira handed Ash a wrapped canvas. Ash smiled at her. "Thank you, princess." Mira grinned at her and wiggled her eyebrows. Ash took off the wrapping, and stared at her own face. "This is beautiful," she whispered. Wolf stared at the artwork and looked at Mira. He only did pencil sketches. He was in a room with a master. Mira caught his look and blushed.

Ash felt noticed that it was actually a larger canvas than she had originally thought it was. She pried it open and unfolded... The other half of the painting, which was the painting of Kit.

Her eyes widened. Mira could hardly control herself when Ash blushed. Wolf felt his heart burst out of his chest and run away. Kit raised his eyebrows and said coarsely. "What, did she draw you with Blue Angel?"

Ash quickly rolled it up before anyone could get close enough to look at it. "Don't look!" she squeaked when Kit got a little too close. She cleared her throat and nodded at Wolf.

Wolf stepped up and presented her a small wrapped present. "Wear this with-" He nodded at Mira. Ash looked at the tiny box and realized that it should be worn with the request that she wear a white-lace light-green dress. She set it down to the side.

Cura went up to her and whispered "I have a present for you later, in my office." Then he turned his heel and left. Mira, realizing that Kit was the only one left, pushed Wolf out along with herself. Before she left, she gave Ash a suggestive wink.

Ash turned around and continued looking at the sunset, now more red than orange, trying her best to be cool.

Kit walked up to her and stared at her red eyes, glinting all the more blood colored in the sunlight. He pulled a rose out of his pocket, ignoring the droplet of blood that came out of the cut where it made with its thorns.

"... I dunno if you'd like this, since you don't like fuss and all, but..."

Ash hardly dared to breathe. All the flowers that littered her balcony floor which were given to her by the soldiers suddenly didn't mean anything.

"Here."

He tucked it into her hair.

Ash boxed up all her hurricane feelings and forced herself to lean a little closer. One inch, but her heart seemed to thump four times faster.

Kit continued staring into her eyes.

"I found it in the forest."

Ash felt her fingers tremble.

"It was right there outside the entrance."

He slid a little closer.

"I couldn't believe that something so beautiful had been there all long."

Then the moment broke and Kit suddenly jerked backwards, as if he realized who he was with. He blinked, confused. Ash was once again standing in front of him, her hair back to black as the sun disappeared down the horizon.

For a moment there, he had seen Mira, Ash's hair red in the sunset.

What was he thinking?

This was his sergeant!

Ash looked at Kit's confused expression and felt her heart shatter a little more. He was thinking of Mira. She could tell.

She pushed him out of her balcony. "Get lost, playboy," She ordered with her best teasing tone that she could muster up at the moment.

As he left, she let the happiness overwhelm her and she sank down to her knees.

She tugged the rose out of her hair and held it tight in her hand, ignoring the prickly thorns as they pierced her skin.

A single tear squeezed itself out but then there was no more.

She stood up, her ponytail breaking apart. Her long black hair unfurled down her back and the wind blew her bangs back. She opened her eyes, wiped tears off her lashes, and screamed into the last streaks of sunset.

"YOUR _LOVE_ IS _MINE_, KIT!"

And then, later, in a hoarse whisper...

"Goddamn you."

* * *

A few days later...

Ash walked through the fields of the farmer that had reported seeing a loose shadow. Her spear trailed along behind her. Ash felt something move behind her and she turned around, swinging her spear along with her.

But there was nothing there.

Ash narrowed her eyes and whispered, "Blue Angel... There's something there, right?"

Her spear said yes and Ash swung around just in time to cleave a shadow in half, slicing it symmetrically and breaking its heart into pieces. Ash fell backwards into the cornstalks as the shadow fried the nearby plants... And the ear-tufts of a tiny bunny that sat petrified under the trashed husks. A tiny chunk of corn fell out of its mouth as it toppled over without a peep.

Ash walked through the doors of the North castle entrance carrying a bunch of popped corn (fried entirely and naturally by shadow!), a burned scarecrow, and a bunny hanging from her ponytail.

She tossed the popped corn and the scarecrow to the mains and pulled the bunny off her ponytail.

She stood outside her room, holding the bunny by the scruff of its neck. She pulled Blue Angel from her belt. Someone was in her room.

She opened the door.

Kit popped up into her face, surprising her. She snapped into attack mode in an instant. She jumped and pushed him down onto her bed, swinging Blue Angel before she could stop herself.

The bunny slipped off of its horrified perch on her head and plopped tail-end first onto Kit's face.

Kit opened his eyes wide and Ash got off him without an apology. "What are you doing here?"

Kit didn't answer and instead pulled the bunny off his face and said. "Did you get a pet? My god, this thing looks like it had lost its soul!"

"Don't call it 'it'... His name is Ragnarök."

Kit fell over laughing.

Kit opened Mira's door.

She stared at the bruise on his cheek.

"Don't ever insult Ash's lack of nurturing abilities. No give backs." He handed her the bunny and went straight for the infirmary.

* * *

"So... Why did you end up with the bunny?" Cura asked. Wolf stroked the tiny white bunny. "I dunno. Mira said that somehow I seemed like the best one for it. I was thinking of naming it Spots."

Ash sat on Cura's examining chair and waited patiently as he pressed tools to her throat and measured her pulse. "What a boring name (no offense, your majesty) but I think he should be named Blemmyes."

"It's a female..." Wolf said, stiffening as Cura undid her button-up shift and checked her chest over for bruises. Cura hid his smile. Ash didn't notice and continued searching for names. "What about Dullahan? That's a nice name."

Cura took off one of her boots. "Don't you know those are names for terrifying monsters?"

"Of course!" Ash said, putting her shift back on. "You're good," Cura said, sending her off. As she left, she muttered, "I really think he should be named Jikininki."

The door closed behind her. Wolf got up and grabbed Cura's collar. He lifted him off the floor. "What were you doing in here before I walked in with Spots?"

Cura smirked. "I was giving her... A birthday present."

The bunny rubbed its fur on Wolf's palm. He sat back down and continued petting it patiently.

"Pervert."

Wolf thought back to when he was first opening the door and Ash had been sitting on the table with Cura's fingers in her mouth. He was murmuring something to her in a low voice, but Wolf couldn't really catch any of it. There was something about having small poison needles installed...?

"I didn't do anything to her. It's your imagination that's perverted, your majesty." Cura said.

"Pervert."

Cura kissed Wolf's neck.

Wolf leaned back.

The door opened and Mira walked... Pausing a moment at their position. Wolf's eyes widened.

After noting the location of the bunny (happily asleep under the cushion of Wolf's curved palm) Mira walked over and suddenly kissed Wolf's cheek. Wolf felt his eyes widen even further but he suddenly didn't have any strength to resist.

Cura raised his eyebrows at Mira. Mira felt her blood boil. Cura ever so slightly opened his mouth and let his tongue out. Wolf shivered. Mira noticed and she bundled up her courage and... Slid over to Wolf's mouth, giving him a soft peck.

Wolf's hand gripped the armrest.

Suddenly, both of them stood up and stared intensely at each other.

Wolf took the time to recover his breath.

They both turned and glared at Wolf, Mira's flushed face and Cura's cold, calm one.

"Which one did you like better?!" They shouted at him in unison.

Wolf looked from the innocent princess he just met to the perverted lover he had known for years.

Then he got up, grabbed Spots, and ran out of Cura's office.

He just can not deal with those two at the same time.


	8. memories

"The reason I called this meeting here is to discuss the happiness of the people," Ash declared as soon as they were all seated.

Cura immediately stood up, "This is a very serious problem. All the energy generated from running the water mills and collecting the sun's heat and light is all given to the soldiers for the shock guns and energy capsules (healing bulbs that enveloped the injury), and the citizens view us as hoarding energy while everyone else is still living in shacks made of wood and hay and eating barley-bread."

Ash nodded. "All the metal is also used to make weapons as well, the construction all focused on barracks or the walls."

"It can't be helped," Wolf said. "If we don't take such drastic measures than more of Gemma will fall to the Umbra."

Mira twisted her hands. "But the people's happiness also matter. We should increase the amount of energy harvested so that the people can have larger share. We would also have a larger share as well!"

Wolf looked at her and she looked away, blushing. Remembering the events of yesterday.

"In doing that, we'd have to build more collecting panels (all the rivers have water mills already)..." Cura said, "If we continue to build more, we'd fall in debt with the workers of the suppliers."

"We can hold a debt for a short while, can't we, until the next round of taxes come in?" Mira asked. Gemma is a very poor country, with very little economical standing, exhausted with centuries of fighting the mass that surrounded them, a forest that spat out misty figures to torture them- however, the nobles who owned giant corporations still sat there, richer than the people and the kingdom combined.

"It's not just the cost, it's who will work there," Kit said, "There's been complaints that nearly all eligible men and women have been enlisted in the army and the rest were told to collect energy or farm. The elders, the mothers, and the children are all that are left."

"And we just recently managed to pay off the last round of debt," Cura said, "but only by increasing the taxes for a while. To even out, we'd have to cut back the taxes next year..."

"I have a question," Ash said, "How did your mother deal with all this, Wolf?"

Wolf looked up at her, and then looked away. "We weren't very close. She would sometimes hold a few public hearings, but not much else. The taxes never changed, and through the years she managed to save up quite a bit in coin."

South Gemma had a much lovelier climate, and the people down there were a little better off, but North Gemma had all the land and resources. The nobles in general all lived in the south. Metal was farmed in the north, and most of the sunlight was collected in the south. However, the land the sunlight panels were built on were strictly owned by the long-reigning nobles of Gemma.

"Build some more panels," Mira suddenly ordered, sliding over a paper to Wolf along with an ink pen. "I'll order the Southerners to give up some space. I have some friends in the nobles... Of I'll just push some blame on them," she said clearly.

Cura looked at Mira in surprise. Maybe the little princess has some steel after all. Kit grinned proudly at Cura, his eyes blatantly saying 'my majesty is just as bold as yours.'

Ash smiled at Mira and then at Wolf, who signed the message.

* * *

Once in a while, one cannot help but think of the past. This night was one of them.

Ash thought back to the day when the black monsters broke through the wall and burned her parents straight into ash, leaving her in such anger that she vowed to clean off every last one of them.

She was then taken to the castle to be a maid to the princess.

She thought back to the time when she met Mira, the beautiful princess dressed in the loveliest dresses, but was still hated because of her red hair- a token that was gifted onto her by her prostitute mother, and green eyes from the father had supposedly died of shame. Whose stepmother hated her for years... But that was a long story of the past.

She practiced at night until she was able to wield her wooden sword like it was another part of her body.

She thought back to the tiny bundle she found on the side of the street, whose brown hair stuck out of a tiny dirt-bag. She had picked him up right there and then, running back to the castle screaming that they had to save the kitten, who turned out to be a boy two years her senior. She named him Kitten, but he refused to be called that.

They compromised at 'Kit,' but only after she beat him at sword-fighting. Then he discovered the art of sniping, and used her as target practice. All those days spent tossing rocks at her ended when she mastered her sword and started hitting the rocks back. Sometimes she swing her sword at the right moment and land a hit on him right back, because she was afraid of heights, and wouldn't climb up to the tall roof that he sat on.

Once, when she was so rage-fueled she climbed up and couldn't get down, but after being teased for a long while, she started crying. He then sighed, climbed back up, and carried her back down, where she then promptly punched him and ran away still crying.

Kit let her call him 'Kitten' for a few weeks until she forgave him, although it wasn't his fault that she got stuck up there at all.

And then he gave her the spear when she was thirteen... And after she rubbed diamond dust on it, he attached wings on it, and told her she shouldn't be afraid of heights because they were where he always was.

After many unsuccessful attempts, he finally just grabbed her, jumped on the spear, and the two of them glided uncontrollably down to the garden, where they crushed a bunch of rhubarb.

She was terrified the whole way, but then the next day she could not forget the exhilaration of gliding on the spear, and to this day she could not sleep without going out for a midnight flight. She even helped him replant the rhubarb, even though it wasn't her fault she go dragged along into riding the spear.

Now that Ash thought back to it, that might have been the first time she started to realize she was in love. Wow, seven years. Seven years of unrequited love. Seven years of noticing that Kit was staring at Mira in her beautiful dress. Refusing to wear her armor until Kit said that the blue-lines white sheaths were cool.

Ash shook her head and erased the bitter feelings that suddenly welled up. _Think of something else!_ She ordered herself.

Ash suddenly thought of Wolf then, lying on her bed in the dark. His father died young along with his real mother, and the long-reigning queen he called mother wasn't actually related to him at all.

They were all orphans...

* * *

When Ash mentioned that to Wolf the next day, he immediately started laughing, causing Kit and Mira to look over. "Oh, but _that guy_ has enough family to share with all of us!" He said, pointing at Cura.

Kit and Mira quickly crowded over.

Cura's eye twitched. "You majesty," he warned with a lowered voice.

Wolf ignored him and pulled out a photo. "This is Cura, and this is his sister, and this is his sister, and this is his sister, and this is his sister, and this is his sister, and this is his sister, and that one is his littlest brother. He has more that aren't in this photo... His two older sister and his one older brother, who are starting large families of their own! Those are his grandparents, and those two are his parents and _their_ siblings, and there are enough cousins to have a complete line-up in our flank! They're the flank #101-54, the 'Oranges'..."

Cura snatched the picture out of his hand and lit it on fire, but not before Kit noticed something.

"Hey, his entire family has orange hair... But he's the only spiked one!" Kit laughed, pointing at Cura's hair.

Ash tilted her head, holding up a baby photo. "That is correct, Kit. I thought it was due to styling or the excessive use of hair gel... But it seems to be natural."

Cura glared coldly at Kit.

Wolf chuckled and whispered to Mira, "He's been teased about it from his siblings all his life- all his family has the more gorgeous silky, and orange hair but somehow he ended up with the rough spikes."

Cura glared at Wolf, his orange eyes flickering with yellow streaks.

Then he turned around to give Ash a glare as well, but his face came undone when he saw her smiling softly at his baby photo, her red eyes covered by her lashes. She looked up at him. "You were the most adorable baby, manager."

And for the first moment of his adult life, Cura didn't have anything to say in reply.

* * *

When night came around again, Cura checked up on Ash and declared her reasonably healed. Then as they split off to their respective rooms, Cura wondered aloud... "Why doesn't Mira sleep with Wolf?"

Kit nearly strangled him right then and there. Mira blushed when Wolf looked down at her and avoided his gaze- which she had been doing ever since she had rashly kissed him. Kit noted this movement and gritted his teeth. Ash pursed her lips and then said, "Why not?"

Kit gasped and turned on her. "Whaaat?! I-it's too early!"

"Alright, so we'll appoint a bodyguard." Ash and Cura replied in unison.

When all the lights were closed...

Wolf clung to the right edge of the bed and Mira clung to the left, being as far away from each other as possible. They exchanged some small talk, and then silence quickly fell, which was quickly broken by Kit.

Kit lay smack in the middle of the bed, taking up all the space he possibly could, with all of his guns loaded and set up pointing at Wolf's head. He waved his hand in the dark. "Don't mind me, just pretend I'm not here- If you try anything, Wolf, I'll blast your royal head off."

Kit felt his chest burn with jealousy. He knew. Something had happened between Mira and Wolf. Goddamn that royal pain in the ass pervert! If he had laid a single hand on Mira-

Ash poked her head out from under the bed. "Threatening the royal majesty is a crime punishable by up to ten years in prison, Kit- and Mira, did you remember to brush your teeth? You ate some candies today so you better make sure to keep them clean, sweetie."

Cura poked his head out next to her. "Your horny majesty, have you ever considered cleaning out under here? And by the way, there's this new drawing I found of the nude sergeant-" Cura said loudly, still annoyed at Wolf for revealing all his family members.

"Stop talking!" Wolf roared, and silence once again fell.

As time dragged on, Mira drifted off to sleep, leaving the rest of them awake. Kit turned around and looked at her sleeping face. Besides his selfish jealousy, there was another reason...

Since the old stepmother had died, leaving her to rule the kingdom with only Kit and Ash by her side, she had been getting dreams every once in a while, nightmares, each one shrouded with green fog. Sometimes she's scream and shout, other times she's just wake up crying.

For some reason, after each time, she'd have a petrifying fear of red apples.

Kit felt Ash move around under the bed and heard the clink her armor made when it hit her spear. Mira would need Ash there when she wakes up...

* * *

Green fog... Darkness... A bright red apple... White hair... Find White Snow! Find White Snow! FIND WHITE SNOW-!

Don't eat the apple!

"AAAAAH!" Mira screamed as she sat straight up, and found tears already sliding down her cheeks. Ash immediately jumped up from under the bed and pinned Mira down. "Princess!" Ash shouted. "It's okay! She's gone!"

Wolf and Cura had left early in the morning to address a matter that had come up with the historians that were forever searching for a way to get rid of shadows once and for all.

Kit grabbed Mira's chest and said, "Are you okay?!"

Ash stroked Mira's hair as she quieted down. "Mira, Mira, on the wall~" Ash murmured into Mira's ear. "The fairest of them all, tell me where you are, and I will go to you no matter how far..."

Mira stopped shaking and looked up at Ash. "That's the rhyme you used to sing to me."

Ash nodded. To Ash, Mira was a mirror, someone who reflected the opposite of Ash, the beautiful, dainty, heart-warming princess who had the red hair of a commoner but the soul of a ruler all fit into a thin body who often forgot to eat while baking the cookies that she made for others.

Mira sat up. "I'm okay. It wasn't so bad this time... Although the voice did say something really weird."

Ash sat up along with her, and Kit started packing up his guns. "Really? What did you hear?"

"You know how it usually shouts at me to tell it 'who's the fairest of them all'? And I'd always scream 'I don't know!'? Well, this time she's telling me to find white snow or something..."

The door flew open and Cura ran inside. "We have a lead!"

Kit covered Mira with some covers and ran past Cura into the hallway towards Mira's bedroom. Ash got off the bed and walked towards Cura, not mentioning Mira's tear-streaked face. Cura didn't comment. "What is it?" Ash asked.

"There's been a new development. Apparently, yesterday the seven wizards that were living in the outside regions of the forest passed away when their house was attacked by a particularly large group of shadows- and then their house was torched... They left behind a legend that there is a 'sleeping beauty' that will resolve the problem with shadows once and for all!" Cura said.

Ash pulled on her chest plate and buckled on her knee caps. She pulled on her gloves and ran out the door. "Where do you think the sleeping beauty is?"

"I think it's a flower or a plant, actually," Cura said, running alongside her. "Based off of what they were planning to do with it- things like crush it up and boil it with other herbs... Furthermore, do you not believe that the deaths of the wizards wasn't an accident?"

As they passed Mira's bedroom, Cura said, "It is said to only grow on the first snow of every year."

Mira gasped, overhearing their conversation through her door. "Find white snow..." She murmured. When Kit looked over she was already out the door.

"What's its use?" Ash said as they neared the meeting room.

"It is said that if it is crushed and mixed with various other substances- most of which we have in our medicinal stores- and spread throughout the shadows, it could be used as a mass-elimination device that is very useful."

Ash opened the door to the meeting room and entered. Wolf looked up and smiled at her tiredly. Last night was not a restful experience and combine with this news- yeah, no one is getting any sleep tonight.

"When is the first snow of this year going to arrive?"

"It's coming awfully early this year... It's October, so it is predicted to arrive in a couple of days." Cura arrived. Ash felt her inner tactician wince. That was definitely not a range of time that broadcasted success.

"Where was it found?" Ash asked

"That's the problem, sergeant Ash."

Ash felt goosebumps raise on her arm. Behind Cura, the door opened again and Kit ran in, carrying Mira princess-style. "No reports of it has ever been discovered yet... But my best guess is that..." Cura trailed off.

Ash knew what he meant. If the sleeping beauty wasn't in Gemma, then it was outside of Gemma.

It was in the Umbra.

"Then it can't be helped," Ash said. "I propose that we assemble a team to enter Gemma."

"I forbid it." Wolf said, standing up, gathering all his courage.

He stared right back at Ash's steely eyes with his own. "It is too dangerous and there is a giant cloud of shadows that is, despite all our efforts, continually getting bigger every day. Not to mention when the explorers get back, they are in no condition for any sort of living."

"What?!" Mira whispered. "What do you mean? Why haven't I heard of this?" Ash shook her head. "It was when Gemma was separated."

"This was all way before you were born, princess, but some Northern explorers were sent deep into the Umbra... And of fifty, the seven of them that made it back... Went insane." Cura said.

Kit set Mira down and she walked towards Wolf. "Are they still alive? We should talk to them! I can heal them-"

"They died yesterday," Cura said.

"What?" Mira exclaimed. "The wizards!" She realized with a shocked expression.

"Yes. They brought back more information than was expected, with an assortment of the strangest plants and substances. Their experience was a taboo topic and the king who sent them in there was greatly disliked because of his decision."

"We won't be going in deep," Ash said to Wolf. "It's just searching for a single flower and then we'll leave immediately."

"We?" Wolf asked.

"I propose a small, fast group of at most three people." Ash said.

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Kit and I," Ash said.

"No." Cura said.

Everyone turned to him.

"Kit must stay to lead his team of snipers and he's not suited for close combat." Cura said nonchalantly, his glasses glinting. Kit glared at him, opening his mouth, but he wasn't given a chance to protest.

"I propose a team of sergeant Ash, his majesty Wolf, and I."


	9. shadows and dwarves

The five of them stood at the practice arena. Ash in her blue and white armor, her spear at her side. Wolf in his blue cloak, his giant sword in hand. Cura with two long, thin two-handed swords that glinted a sharp silver. Mira stood in the back, her puffy purple dress traded for a simple uniform. Kit held his favorite gun.

Mira stared at Ash, her protector since... Since _ever_. Now she was going into the Umbra.

Ash walked up to the fighting ring with Cura. She stood facing him ten feet away with her spear. Cura pulled out his swords.

Kit fired off a small energy shot that was used more as a sound signal than anything else. It crackled sharply in the air and Cura attacked, swinging both his swords so fast it seemed as it he suddenly grew two silver wings.

They crossed each other, missing Ash as she slid back calmly. She pushed her spear at the intersection, pushing hard.

Cura felt his arms start to tremble as he kept his own swords from going sideways. If he pulled back his swords the spear would have nothing to hold it back and would probably land a cut on him because no matter how fast he moved she moved faster. That was the best move he had, but she was definitely going to expect that...

Cura glanced at sergeant Ash's red eyes and felt real fear began to mix in his stomach. He felt sweat slide down his neck. Then he took a chance just before she pushed his curved blades into his own skin.

He flipped his wrists and tossed both of his swords in the air. Sergeant Ash paused for a moment, surprised at his sudden decision.

That was all he needed.

Cura leaped back, grabbing his swords by the handle as they fell down.

He looked up, smiling slightly inside. He had evaded a tough situation with a success, although that may not be possible again-

Ash tossed her spear at him, and he barely blocked it with his swords in time. She jumped up onto the spear's pole, activated her wings, and used her body weight to push the spear down closer to his neck.

Cura knew his swords were going to bend. He pulled out one sword and swung it at her. Ash leaped back, pulling her spear back with her. She landed on the floor and immediately rushed back with a simple piercing move.

He blocked with one sword, and she immediately pulled back and attacked again. Just as soon as he blocked, she changed direction. He could barely see her spear as it seemed to duplicate, swinging in and out and then in again. Blue diamond lines cut his shirt to pieces when he didn't react fast enough. She was testing his reflexes, Cura thought somewhere in the back of his mind.

Cura could barely block all the lightning hits with both his swords.

After what seemed like an eternity, when he felt that he could not lift his usually lightweight swords for one more swing, Ash kicked him on the knee and when he buckled, she touched the base of his neck and said. "There goes your head, manager."

He grinned, panting hard. His arms felt like his blood had turned into molten lead. She was also breathing hard. She helped him up. Behind him, Cura heard clapping. He turned around to see Kit clapping slowly, grinning. "There's not many who could last against Ash... For five minutes and 34 seconds."

Cura wiped his face and took off the rest of his tattered shrt, noticing that he was riddled with tiny cuts from Ash's spear as he barely managed to dodge her hundred of attacks. "What about you, Kit?" Cura said. "How long did you last?"

"Every attack I fling at her she shoot right back with her uncanny ability to block with her spear," Kit said. "I lasted seven minutes, although you have to consider the fact that she and I have very different weapons and fighting styles."

Ash nodded. "Everyone has their own ways of fighting. And their own specialty."

"Yeah," Kit said. "For example, Ash couldn't shoot her own foot if she tried."

Ash speared Kit, tossed his body away, and turned to Wolf. "You're up, your majesty."

She nodded at Cura. "By the way, you pass." Cura smiled at her, feeling the many cuts on his chest sting. Mira handed him the medicine box and shouted. "Wait! Me first."

Ash looked at her. Kit sat up. "Mira..."

"Even I deserve at least a trial, right?" Mira said. "Test me, Ash."

"Mira, you're not going, even if you (miraculously) win," Cura said. "It's too dangerous and you have no knowledge pertaining to the goal at hand. I have in my memory all the clues we have of the sleeping beauty and what it looks like, Wolf is the emergency backup (should he pass), and Ash is my protector."

Mira pursed her lips. "Just give me a chance, Ash! I've been practicing."

Ash stood facing her and said. "Alright."

Mira pulled out a small sword from her uniform's sheath, looked up... And blinked. In flash, before Mira's heart had even finished its second heartbeat, Ash had her spear through Mira's hair. She tapped Mira's neck with its blade. "You're done." Ash said in a blank voice, brooking no argument.

Cura whispered to Kit. "How long was that?"

Kit said dryly in reply. "Less than a fourth of a second. I see an improvement!"

Mira went white and fell down away from the spear. Ash tossed Blue Angel away and held out a hand. "Mira..." Mira looked away and walked away without taking Ash's hand. Kit sighed, got up, and followed her, only to be rejected. Mira ran away, leaving Kit to stare at her retreating back.

Ash picked up her spear and then nodded at Wolf.

* * *

"Well, that was quick." Cura said, looking down at his majesty.

"One minute and 26 seconds," Kit said. "Not bad. If you and Cura both went at Ash at the same time, I doubt she'd come out victorious."

Wolf felt his face burn. He could do better, he knew that. But her red eyes had flamed up with blood thirst and all he could think was... _That's a nice look_. _Don't stop making that look._

Ash walked up to them and said, "Wolf... You pass." Kit turned around and stared at her. "What?! He only lasted a minute and a half! How in the world-"

Ash stared down at Wolf coldly. "I had a feeling that he could do much better in the right situation." She bent down and said, "Your majesty, even though I am female, you need not hold back on me."

"No, that's not the reason," Wolf said, standing up. "You've misunderstood!"

Ash ignored him and started walking away. Wolf sat back down, stunned. He looked at Cura and Kit. "I wasn't holding back intentionally!"

Kit shrugged. "You know, when she was attacking and you wouldn't do anything but block, anyone could see something was off. Your huge broadsword could easily outweigh her blocking power, so she'd have to jump or evade, and yet all you did was block with that heavy block of iron of yours, wasting a lot of energy."

Cura looked at his majesty's confused expression and said, "What he means is that you didn't attack once in the entirety of the fight."

"Really?!" Wolf exclaimed, realizing all his movements. "Whoa. I... I guess I just..."

"If you had attacked with the weight of your sword, Ash would have to get away instead of block because your weapon is so much more heavy. That would have bought you quite a bit more time." Cura commented. "I suppose now Ash feels slighted that you wouldn't go full-out on her."

Wolf got up. "I have to apologize!"

He dragged his huge blue sword after him as he ran towards the exit. His long blue hair fluttered over his shoulder. Cura admired his majesty's form as he ran out after his sergeant.

Kit raised an eyebrow at Cura's unabashed staring. Cura set his orange eyes on Kit. Kit looked away and pointed at the medicine box. "You done with that? I gotta return it to Mira if you're done."

Cura looked down at his chest, where most of the bigger cuts had been treated. He looked up at Kit. "Actually, I have a cut on my back that I can't properly put ointment on." Kit glared at him. "Not in your dreams, butler."

Cura pushed the medicine box. "Fine, have it your way. I'm done. However, if that cut gets infected and I fall down in battle as dead weight next to Mira's dear sergeant," he trailed off.

Kit smeared ointment on his palm, tossing his gun away. "Where is it?"

Cura turned around and Kit stared at the cuts. "Hey, there's a lot more than just one!" Kit muttered, but nevertheless started applying the cold ointment. Cura chuckled. "Blame your terrifying partner." Cura felt his cuts sting when the disinfecting part of the ointments start to work. Kit stood up, holding the medicine. "They're all covered."

But before he could leave, Cura pulled him back down. Kit fell on top of him. "Hey!" Cura grinned and placed Kit's hand on his chest, smearing the last bit of ointment on a cut that he had missed. Cura then took the same ointment-smeared hand of Kit's and placed it on his neck, where another cut was turning red.

"You missed some," Cura whispered into Kit's ear, which was turning bright red.

Kit, after the shock wore off, immediately pulled the hand away. He got up, growled something under his breath, and then ran off.

Cura laughed, thinking about Kit's golden-brown hair.

"The sniper is quite the pretty boy."

* * *

Mira knocked on Ash's door. Ash opened it immediately after Mira took her hand off. Mira smiled up at her.

"Sorry?"

Ash enveloped Mira in a hug. "What is there to be sorry for?"

Mira didn't even care that the armor was jabbing into her waist. "For being a little bitch about losing. I'm really sorry. I just... Really wished none of you were going to do anything that dangerous."

Wolf knocked on Ash's door although it was open. Ash looked over Mira's shoulder. "Come in," she said.

Wolf didn't walk in, but instead stood outside the door, his hand on the wood. The door blocked most of his view, so he didn't see that Mira was also in the room with Ash. "I'm here to say... I wasn't holding back on purpose. I was... Really fascinated with... You."

Mira's eyes widened.

"I know it sound pretty creepy, and maybe a little bit weird too, but..." Wolf felt his face burn, suddenly finding himself at a loss for words. He was on the brink of confessing, but he didn't have the confidence. His hand balled up into a fist, scraping on a splinter on the door. He switched to another topic. "... I respect you to the depths of my heart, sergeant!"

Then he turned his heel and left, his hand stinging.

Mira pushed Ash away. Ash stared at her, confused. "Princess?"

Mira stared at Ash and then forced a quivering smile. "N-nothing! Nothing is wrong. It can't be possible, right?! Y-you and Wolf?!"

Ash stared back, not quite understanding. "What?"

Mira looked at her friend's obvious density and felt something in her heart ease. "No, it's okay. It must be a misunderstanding. Anyways... Pack enough to wear... And come back safe!"

Mira then half-flew out of sergeant Ash's quarters, the first seeds of suspicion planted in the rich dirt of her heart as she ran in the opposite direction of, and away from, her beloved king.

* * *

The dawn was cold.

Wolf, Cura, and Ash stood at the castle gates, just about to set off on foot. They were dressed in heavy robes in place of any armor. Mira and Kit stood at the castle door, their breaths becoming steam.

Ash waved at Mira, who smiled weakly back. Ash didn't understand why there was tension, but Ash didn't prod. She pulled Kit into a hug and whispered into his ear. "Take good care of Mira, okay?"

Kit nodded. Ash let him go. She punched him once on the shoulder and then walked to where Cura and Wolf stood.

In a few moments they were gone, blending into the fog.

Ash didn't look back once.

As soon as they faded away, Mira regretted not clearing things up.

After crossing the Northeast Bridge...

"We're going to the seven wizard's cabin, where they lived before it was torched. I hope to find more clues and it is most likely that sleeping beauty grows around their because they had a regular supply in which they performed various experiments on." Cura said, walking down the dirt path.

Wolf used a small dagger to cut away some vines. "This road hasn't been used in a long time," he commented.

"The wizards weren't people that had regular visitors." Ash said. "I have a question, though. You said before that you believe it was arson? On the wizard's cabin?"

"The wizards were queer people. They used to be miners, but they also had a lengthy education. They were all brothers, and their parents died quite mysteriously during the expedition. They had very different personalities as well. The oldest on was a bit of a grouch, but the rest are quite jolly. One has a reputation for falling asleep almost everywhere." Cura said, using a long branch to push away some overhanging leaves.

"I don't believe anyone would want to hurt them for their person... But what they were doing might have been the reason. They were searching for a way to exterminate shadows. They came up the idea of the energy capsules, the theory of the shadow's hearts being an extremely dense soul structure, and the basis of all our knowledge," Cura continued.

"Why would anyone want to kill them because of that?" Ash asked. "Isn't it good that they are helping us fight the Umbra?"

"Have you ever heard of the Red Riding Hood?" Cura asked.

Ash shivered at the taboo name. "Yes. They are a terrorizing group of murderers..." She muttered. "They've attacked many times in the south as well."

"They've been quiet for a long time now. I suspect they were behind the wizards' deaths."

"Why would they wish for their deaths? How would that benefit anyone?" Wolf questioned. "Unless all they want is chaos!"

"Well..." Cura said. "My theory is that they wish to overtake Gemma... And the more the shadows are strong, the more of our power is focused on them and the weaker we are as a whole- a perfect situation for a takeover."

Ash nodded. "Especially with the giant cloud of shadows growing over the North part of Gemma." She looked at Cura. "It was a good idea to join the North and South," she said, getting a feeling that this man was behind the marriage proposal between Mira and Wolf.

"That... Teaming up with the shadows, in a way... How dirty!" Wolf growled.

Ash held out a hand in front of him and he bumped into it. He stopped and looked up. "We're here," she said bluntly.

The clearing opening up to a trashed wooden cabin, which were blackened straight to its foundation. Next to it lay seven freshly dug graves, each labeled with the wizards' names.

"Verecundus, Inuidisse, Somnolentus, Sanator, Aegrotus, Stultus, and Laetificus." Cura read aloud. "They had such tongue-twisting names. Which is to be expected, given that they were one of the few long-running true lines of mining dwarfs from the Magical Era. Very short in stature."

"It's the completely the Energy Era now," Wolf said. "They were the last tie to the old lands."

Ash walked over and pulled a bunch of flowers from her sleeve. She tossed them down over the graves. "Forgive us for intruding upon your rest."

Cura waved his hands. "I'm sure they won't mind us collecting a bit of information. In any case, it would help them achieve more fame in history. I plan to archive their works before it's all lost and gone to waste." He walked into the burned down cabin, pressing his fingers into every nook and cranny that was left.

Ash walked behind him, using the stick end of her spear to tap against each tile of the ashy floor for a hollow ring that might mean a hidden compartment. Wolf trailed along even after her, his broadsword an aching chunk of metal on his shoulder.

They found nothing and pretty soon even Cura gave up. They walked out the back door and stared at the forest beyond.

"I can't believe they dared to live so close to it," Ash said. "You'd think with the constant danger of attacking they'd be more ready for it."

"Shadows don't light fires." Wolf said. "But the Red Riding Hood isn't out of the question."

Cura stared into the dark forest and said, "The sleeping beauty must be somewhere close to this cabin. Even with one flower we'd be able to do something about that huge shadow cloud."

They looked at each other and without another word, entered the Umbra.


	10. (love at) first sight

Kit cut out the pictures of wedding dresses sourly, sitting half on Mira's bed, surrounded by piles of different plans and dress cutouts. Why did he have to help prepare the wedding between his love rival and the love of his life?

He glanced to the side, looking at where Mira was sitting at her table, hugging her knees, staring out the window into the dark, shadow-laden forest.

He tossed the cutouts away, walked over to her, and without warning, wrapped her up in a tight hug.

"They'll be back soon," he whispered into her thick red curls.

He couldn't bear to let her go for a long time.

* * *

Wolf felt a smaller body lean into him. He opened his eyes and rubbed his eyes, opening them slightly to the white sunlight or a cloudy day. His body ached. He hadn't slept on the cold dirt for a long time and this was a lot less comforting than his soft bedsheets at home. Ah, man, he's been way too pampered. Did he grow a potbelly yet? That's what happens when you get married, right?

He looked down.

Sergeant Ash made quiet sleeping sounds as she slept just a mere centimeter away from his chest.

Nevermind.

Not a single part of his body was cold anymore.

She was so _close_. Wolf felt her breaths ruffle the ties of his cloak. It was all he could do not to reach out and tilt Ash until she completely snuggled into him. He lifted a hand and pulled his cloak until it stretched out. He tossed it over her shoulders, noticing her small sleep-sigh when the warm fur covered her.

His heartbeat sped up and suddenly his hand was uncomfortable just laying at his side. He lifted his hand, and his elbow touched something behind him. Wolf turned his head and glanced back.

Cura slept behind him, his hair pushed to one side, baring his three gold earrings and part of the tiny tattoo hidden just behind his earlobe that said _vita bonum_.

Cura slept like a statue: no snores, snuffles, or movement. His hands were always crossed in front of him and his posture was exactly as if he was standing up except that he was lying horizontally and his eyes were closed. If you didn't look closely, you would think he wasn't even breathing!

Wolf slid his hand slowly out, his fingers itching to pull Ash closer. He let it fall onto the dirt floor.

What was he thinking?! This was a sergeant he was thinking about, the close friend of his soon-to-be wife's!

Wolf's fingers moved on their own and entangled themselves into her long black hair. He noticed her small breaths steaming in the air. The tree that they were sleeping under kept most of them under its cover, but she was the one mostly out of the shade of its leaves. Cura had his back to the trunk of the tree.

Wolf pressed the back of his hand lightly on her cheek. It was cold.

Without a single hesitation after that he pulled her closer. She was cold and shivering. _Why didn't she say anything?_ Stubborn woman... Wolf smiled into her black hair.

It was for warmth only. Just for warmth only... Sleepily, Ash burrowed into his chest and her fingertips crawled up and tightened on his shoulders. Wolf felt his face heat up.

Wolf paused, noticing that he was sandwhiched between the two of them. Ash's hand was on her spear and Cura's arms (although crossed in his sleep) were a mere second away from his swords, as if they had prepared this position.

"Oi... I thought I was Cura's protector?"

_Wasn't he the one with all the knowledge on the flower?_

Wolf shook his head at his sleeping subjects. He put his head back down and felt Ash's chin touch his shoulder. Her knees settled aove his. She was actually smaller than she looks, wielding that terrifying glare along with her giant silver spear around.

Wolf's eyes drifted closed and and he relaxed into sleep.

Some time later...

Cura opened his eyes and stared at the back of Wolf, who was definitely sleeping. Over Wolf's shoulder, Cura saw the top of the black-haired sergeant's head and her fingers on his shoulder. Wolf's long blue hair was mixing in. They breathed in and out in a slow, steady rhythm.

Cura pushed himself up on one arm. The sun was barely up in the horizon, sending down a milky yellow.

He leaned his back on the trunk of the tree, feeling the intricate ridges of the bark press a mark on his skin. He ran a hand through his hair and stretched his arms. They were stiff from sleeping crossed all night, but that was the duo-sword-withdrawal position for Cura, and it was safest to be close to his weapons in this shadow-infested forest.

He looked down at the two and knew that if Ash woke up like this she'd pick up on something (be it Wolf's feelings for her or no) and that would make things awkward.

Cura's Brilliant Sleeping Position Manipulation Plan Later...

Ash woke up all the way in the middle of the clearing as the cold wind cut through her clothes. She shivered and stared back at, where they slept under the tree, Cura and Wolf had interlocked themselves in an intimate embrace.

Their legs were in between each others, their arms were around each other, and Cura's face was directly on Wolf's neck and collarbone, his nose in the king's blue hair. Ash felt her face go slack. She looked away and picked up her spear, preparing to start another day of their journey. Being the third wheel was awkward... That position though! Do they not posess any human decency at all?

Wolf woke up in said position, was deeply disappointed when he saw Cura's face looking up at him, and slapped him.

Cura woke from the slap.

* * *

Ash opened a small bag of sausages, not mentioning the position everyone was in this morning. She stuck some sticks through them and held them up and away from her. She then shot some low-rank energy shots at them, frying them. The sizzling sound of sausages made Wolf look up from cleaning his sword.

Cura was drawing yesterday's route on a map, tracking theiry progress. He looked up at the sky. The clouds seemed to send a bad omen down to them. Cura folded up the map. It would be a miracle if they found the flower in time.

Ash handed them a sausage and a chunk of bread. "Hurry," she said. "It would be best if we leave now."

Cura nodded, tucking the map away. He stood up and pointed at a misty section of the forest. "We're going that way today." He kicked away some dirt under a bush, unveiling a bunch of rocks arranged in an arrow formation. "This appears to the route that they often used for gathering herbs. If the sleeping beauty is a herb that they performed experiments regularly on, then this is our best bet."

Ash stretched out her arm. "Lead the way."

Wolf picked up his broadsword and stuck the chunk of bread into his mouth. He chewed as they walked deeper into the forest. Ash waited until he walked passed her before picking up her small bag and following him.

* * *

They did nothing but walk for the longest time, but time seemed to pass faster than lightning as they passed through overgrown herb bushes after herb bush, but none that matched the description of the sleeping beauty. Cura knew that it was definitely going to snow before dark by the look of the clouds. It didn't matter, really, since they couldn't find anything in the dark anyways.

It was terrifically quiet for an hour and then suddenly it was like a cloud drifted over the sun and they were casted into the dark.

And a switch was flipped.

And the shadows leaped out of the shadows by dozens. It was almost like the attack was planned.

It was as if the trees had morphed into monsters.

Ash swung her spear one complete swing around, piercing through an entire line of them. She pushed back against Wolf, fending them off and motioning for him to follow Cura. He tried to help her but he could see that was in a bad position, right in between two thick trees, and he gave up trying.

He turned around and ran after Cura, who was in front of him, also destroying a multitude of misty drudges that crawled out of the depths of nightmares. In the back of his mind, Wolf noticed that they had put him in the middle again, taking all the hits by themselves. As Wolf ran, Ash followed him, pushing away any shadow that tried to get close.

But then a shadow slithered out of the fiolage behind Ash and latched onto his leg. He cut through it with his sword, tripping over from the tiny explosion, but then his shoulders felt terribly heavy.

Shadow after shadow poured in as Cura dropped his left sword and the shadows swarmed through the barrier that it used to hold. Ash was busy slicing into a particularly large shadow to pieces, furiously trying to find its heart.

It was funny how everything was completely silent. Shadows don't make a sound, even if you cut into them they just regrouped. If you had been standing ten feet away, you wouldn't have thought a fight was going on. But the silence was deafening: the birds that were chirping earlier in the morning were quiet.

How could those weightless things be so goddamn heavy?! Wolf thought as shadow after shadow clumped up on his back. In the back of his mind, he could hear Cura's faint voice lecture him on the effect of shadows, whose powers were entirely based on fear and sucking the will to live off of people, not their physcial forms, which were actually quite weak.

With the last of his strength, he lifted up his broadsword... Only to watch it fall... He watched it slip out of his fingers, like sand inevitably sliding through his fingers... And then his sword cut through a tiny shadow.

Whose compressed soul exploded, setting off another, and another, and another, and another and suddenly Wolf had all the enegry in the world and he slashed through a horde of them in seconds, lifting his sword again and again and again... Until Wolf's hair was fried and standing up in electricity and the reast of the shadows leaped back and disappeared.

His sudden rush of adrenaline wore off as quickly as it rushed in.

Cura cut off the stragglers and Ash ran over, half-stumbling, a black burn on her neck. "Are you okay, your majesty?! I'm deeply sorry that I left you-" She paused. She swung her spear through the overlying the bushes and any shadows that were hanging around promptly melted away.

Wolf fell down to his knees, catching himself by putting a hand on a trunk. Despite this, he slid off the trunk and nearly cracked his head open on a rock, but before he did just that, Ash caught him, casting her spear away to the side in a split second.

Wolf's face was so hot Ash could feel its heat through her clothes as she sat down in the grass and propped his head and shoulder up onto her lap. There was a burn on his cheek, but his back had been completely covered by clothes, so the majority of the shadows didn't land a single hit on him.

Their explosions did burn off most of his clothes, however. Ash pulled off the rest of his tattered shirt and looked for any burns. She found one on his stomach and she pressed it lightly with her fingers. Behind her, Cura ran off to sweep the area.

His back arced and Wolf opened his eyes, suddenly sitting up. His mind whirled when he swung upwards too fast and he ended up falling back down onto Ash's lap. He held up a hand and covered his eyes from the light.

She paused for a moment and then touched him lightly again. He jerked back as if her touch carried an electric shock and he nearly fell off her lap. She grabbed his head and pulled him back. He was still hotter than normal. Ash rubbed her fingers together and realized her fingertips were cold. Maybe that was the reason why he kept on reacting.

Wolf shoved down the insane urge to snuggle into her chest and kiss her skin, which was so close yet so far. "Sergeant... Please don't touch me," he said.

Ash tilted her head. "Eh?"

"I don't think I'd be able to handle it," Wolf said, looking away even though his hand over his eyes and she could not have possibly have read his expression.

Cura walked over, his two swords back on his belt. He took off his shirt and crouched down over Wolf. He buttoned his majesty up and then threw a cloack over him. "Too bad we didn't bring extra clothes... It's getting pretty cold too. A terrible shame."

Cura felt a cold wind on his back, but it wasn't the thing that made his skin form goosebumps. What was happening dropped his heart faster than any shadow.

Something small, wet, and light slowly touched the skin of his back. Cura hardly dared to look, but he did.

Wolf felt something wet and cold touch his palm. He lifted his hand and stared at the cloudy skies, which reflected white in his blue eyes.

Ash already knew it was happening and didn't look up.

Snow drifted down.

Somewhere in the forest, sleeping beauty was blooming.

* * *

"We have to go back," Ash said. "It's snowing and we aren't adequately dressed. For God's sake, Cura, you don't even have your shirt on!"

It was true. Although he didn't want to show it, he was freezing. He would probably have frostbite on his fingers in an hour. Wolf leaned propped up against the tree trunk, his face burning but his body cold as a chunk of ice.

"We've gone too far into the forest during the fight," Ash said, waving her spear around. "His majesty is terribly sick. You don't want to endanger him, right? Cura?"

Cura looked at her and then walked over to Wolf. He pulled on the cloak that wrapped Wolf up to his blue hair and took the map out of the tiny pocket in the sleeve. He unfolded it calmly, ignoring the cold wetness of snowflakes at it slapped against his back.

Ash gritted her teeth, annoyed that he was ignoring her. "I thought you would be a more reasonable than the average man!"

"I am only just a man after all," he said, walking around in the snow, which were drifting down and already dusting the grass.

"Fine," Ash muttered, and then took off her cloak. He turned around. She handed it to him. "Of all of us, I have the lowest rank. Wear the cloak, manager."

"I refuse." Cura said. "You need not worry. I have feeling that the sleeping beauty is around here. I'll find it in no time." He turned away from her and continued reading his notes scribbled on the back of his map, mentioning the area the wizards described in their autobiographies as "rich in useful herbs."

Ash glared at his bare back, her hands gripped tight on the hem of her cloak. Stubborn _ass!_

Cura turned around and gave her a smirk. "Who are you calling stubborn, eh?"

Ash jumped up into the air and barreled into his chest, sending them both flying into the snow with her momentum. She glared down at him, her eyes flaring bright red. After she successfully pinned his chest down with her legs on either side, she flung the cloak over his shoulders and tied it tight enough to make Cura choke.

Her long black hair ran down her back and curled around on Cura's thigh. He felt the soft tips on his fingers and he looked down, only to be stunned with shock.

Ash followed his wide-eyed stare and also paused, staring at his hand, which was half closed around a lock of her hair, which was curled around the stem of a tiny stem with a small bulb.

That can't possibly be...

Ash watched as a tiny snowflake drifted down at that miraculous moment and it touched the tip of the bulb. The green leaves then unfurled out, filled with energy, and out came a beautiful blue-centered pink-edged five-petal flower.

As two more snowflakes touched the flower, the petals slowly lost their mere seconds of color and turned white on the parts where the snowflakes touched.

In one smooth move Cura clasped the stem between his thumb and pointer finger and snapped the flower off.

They sat there, both entranced by the tiny flower as he held it up between them.

Snowflakes drifted down, covering Ash's hair and Cura's legs but they didn't care.

When Cura tore his gaze away from the tiny flower, he found himself fascinated by the other one sitting on his lap, still staring with her mouth open at the pearl-white sleeping beauty. Her black lashes that thickly lined her eyes had snowflakes on the tips.

At that moment Cura found himself wanting to kiss Ash more than anything else he had wanted in his life.

Behind them, Wolf sneezed.


	11. secret

It was snowing.

It was snowing _hard_.

It was cold.

It was _freezing_.

Mira was standing outside, wearing only her thin summer dress and just staring blankly into the forest where the giant cloud of shadows hovered over like a black omen of death and despair. Her arms crossed each other as she hugged herself, her breath steaming in the bitter cold.

He had walked outside and put a cloak over those thin shoulders, bushing away locks of her red hair as he tied it on properly since he knew that if he left it hanging she'd never notice enough to pull it up.

Maybe it was the snow.

Maybe it was the fact that they were completely alone out there, surrounded by a blinding ongoing storm of white flakes. Nobody could see anything but at that moment it was like the snow had created a tiny world there, a globe containing only them as the snow drifted in all the areas around them. Her red hair was like a drop of red blood on the blanket of snow.

Maybe it was the fact that Wolf was gone, or that Cura and Ash were gone on that stupid trip.

Maybe there was something was in the air, the snow, the feeling of it all. Or somebody had put something in his food, in his drink...

Maybe it was the fact that she was crying and if she didn't wipe those tears off her face they'd freeze right there and she'd catch a terrible cold.

Maybe it was because he had seen her cry one too many times. She always cried too easily, over the littlest, most insignificant things. Like when he had a bruise on his elbow after losing a humiliating fight and she was in shock from seeing him fall off his horse.

Maybe it was because that she was crying over her worry for Wolf.

Maybe that pissed him off.

Maybe it was because Mira had already kissed Wolf.

Maybe that was one last straw in a haybale that built up over ten years of unrequited love.

Was there any way to spin that haybale into gold?

Couldn't he at least try?

Kit leaned down and pressed his lips on hers.

Then he left.

* * *

The next morning Kit had walked into the breakfast room a little late and saw that Mira was standing in the corner, setting out only two plates of breakfast on the wide table that was meant for six. The chairs where Ash, Wolf, and Cura had sat in were empty. He walked in, surprising her.

She visibly swallowed. Her guilty face reminded Kit of a scared rabbit and he knew she was expecting him to react badly to what she was going to say.

He didn't say anything and sat down. After a moment, she did too.

He ignored the food and took a sip of the coffee, then he, almost casually, began to talk.

"You know, I had been in love with someone for almost a decade." _Actually, a little bit more._

Mira bit her lip and didn't touch her pancakes.

"I'm still in love with her." _Always._

"I've always wanted to tell that person, but I just never got the courage. But every time I look at her my heart skips a beat. But she never knew the truth. I was afraid of breaking our relationship." _All this time..._

Mira didn't meet his gaze and after a while he also looked away. The cheery sunlight outside the windows that were lined with snow didn't match the atmoshpere within the room.

"But then she fell in love... With a king. Someone with the status and the power and the money to fit her title. Someone who deserved her. I'm sure he likes her as much as she likes him, if not more." _What does he have that I do not? Why can't I be him?!_

Mira looked up this time, just about to deny it, but she closed her mouth at his gaze.

He was smiling at her. _Save me. My heart is breaking._

"You don't have to say anything," he said softly. _S__ay you love me._

"I know the truth." _Lie to me._

She didn't know what do do. Her heart felt cold and unmoving, but her face was hot and probably the same color as her hair. Her throat was dry but her eyes were filled. Her hands were quivering.

He pushed back his chair, stood up, and left.

Whispering as a goodbye...

"I'm sorry." _I forgive you._

She stared at the two plates of pancakes as her vision went blurry and tears fell down. What was she crying for?

Because she was sorry that she couldn't return his love?

Because Ash definitely knew... All this time?

For Ash?

For herself...?

Or for Kit?

Who hid himself behind a cold mask of indifference as he left her there and walked away even though it was his heart that should be breaking and his hope that was dying.

* * *

He should have never told her.

Of course he knew that.

That's why he never told her.

Until now.

Kit held his glass and watched the foam on his beer collect at the top.

He had ran by the bar and got a pint, but he still hadn't taken a single sip yet. He raised the glass to his lips.

Then he felt the sharpest spike of fear in his heart and he felt the _essence_ of Ash in all its absolute _fury_ as she stood behind him.

He turned around, his heart beating like a sledgehammer, but there was no one there. His eyes widened and his body was coiled to spring from any danger. But his room was empty.

Kit suddenly broke into a surprised laugh. Oh, she definitely knew! She knew he was about to turn coward to... To a flipping _drink_!

He walked to the balcony and tossed the glass straight out the window into the forest. He heard a small tinkle as the glass broke a long way off.

Kit found himself still slightly smiling. Confessing wasn't as bad as he thought. At least now she knew, and now she'd be more _aware_ of him as a man and a woman!

Kit got up and began to prepare his guns to take up to the roof.

* * *

Cura walked ahead of Ash and Wolf, trying to forget whatever feelings had boiled themselves into a poisonous mix in his stomach. He thought of other things, of calm tranquil things, of mundane and boring things.

The main reason Wolf was made to come along was because of publicity, Cura coldly thought. He was already drafting up a speech for Wolf to give, brandishing his triumphant return with the flower to save them all.

No, sergeant Ash didn't save Wolf- the king saved sergeant Ash! And his loyal butler Cura to boot! He had picked them both up and ran faster than the shadows.

He had used his limitless intelligence to deduce where the flower lay. He had used Cura's months of labrotory work to make a portable bomb out of it. Cura felt the tiny bomb, now with the flower crushed and instead of it, hanging around his neck. As soon as they got him, it would be fired over the cloud of shadows and dissipate them for good.

The people will be delighted and filled with hope at such a capable and heroic leader.


End file.
